Cataclysm
by Ominous-Advent
Summary: Four years since: Cocoon's been crystalized, Death of Hope's Father, Hope's argument with Lightning,and since he's seen her. When Lightning fails to return home after several years, Hope sets out to find her. Little does he know there is a new threat hanging over the world he thought was safe from danger..(Solitary and Rebellion continuation.)
1. Regret

**Well here is my first fan fiction...it's been on my mind for a long time and I just had to write it out! I hope you like it!**

**NOTE: I made some changes in Hope's flash back to those of you who have read this chapter already hope you still enjoy it.**

**Read/Review**

**DISCLAMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 13 NOR IT'S CHARACTERS ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATIVE MINDS OF SQUARE ENIX!**

Bold/Italic=Thoughts

Italic=Flashback

Ch.1:Regret

* * *

**Chapter 1: Regret**

A well polished onyx velocycle zoomed through the pink-ish Orange red skies of Gran Pulse nearing the outskirts of New Palumpolum. The engine reeved loud and gave off light blue energy that fell and dissipated into the evening airs. The hovering vehicle finally began to desend and slow to a decent speed as it entered city limits. For a city that's only been around for four years New Palumpolum already had a population of over 14,00000.

The velocycle slowed and came to a stop in front of a peaceful yet melancholic area of Palumpolum. The driver, that looked to be around the age of nineteen, inhaled softly then exhaled a shaky breath. his hands tightly gripped the steering wheel before hesitantly standing to his feet. He wore an all white polyester suit with a black casual dress shirt underneath and a white silk tie. His silver hair, that stopped at his neck, was pushed back into a neat ponytail, though his bangs hung in his face. On his right shoulder, was a black iron puldron with three neon yellow lines going horizontally across it symbolyzing his rank. The male had soft pale skin that went well with his flawless facial features. Pain and sorrow showed in his striking emerald orbs as they gazed up at the ebony steel gates that read; Palumpolum Cemetery. The male's body slightly tensed up as he took a few steps inside the cemetery and stopped, heart racing at an unhealthy rate. The cemetery was rather large, stretching almost one-hundred acers moist soil and beautiful jade grass that gave off an eerie but radiant glow when the sun was setting. He exhaled nervously and then raised his foot from the ground and began walking again. A lump formed in his throat and he started to choke up as he neared an off grey gravestone plated in glass and golden letters etched into the stone reading;Bartholomew Estheim.

The male knelt down in front of the gravestone and lowered his head in respect, silver strands of hair fell dourly over his mourning eyes. A pale hand briefly ran across the stone then fell back to the male's side.

"Hey dad." He started, voice not going above a whisper.

"It's me, your son Hope."

A sullen laugh passed his lips as he tried to think of what else there was he could say. It had been four years since the fall of Cocoon and also since the death of Hope's father. Bartholomew had developed an unknown sickness a few month after Cocoon's demise. He died just five month after. Ever since, Hope blamed himself in many ways and hasnt been the same. First his mother during the purge now his father, the only family he had left, is now deceased. Hope had groan distant, harsh and cold towards everyone that cared for him.

"I joined the army, after your death it's kept me occupied, focused. who would have thought me, Hope Estheim, the kid that use to be whinny and pathetic would be a Sergeant in the Guardian Corps, and in just four years."

A slight smile shaped his lips as he recalled the days when he and the others were l'cie. The days when he was unsure of himself. The smile quickly faded, he pressed his lips into a straight line and stood to his full height. He glanced down at his fathers resting place one last time then turned his back, ready to leave but said one last thing.

"If you were here...no if both, you and mom were here, I know you would be proud of me."

He noded firmly and slowly walked away.

"Rest in peace dad."

Hope exited the cemetery and hopped into his velocycle. He layed his head back against the soft leather seat and stared aimlessly at the sky that was now navy blue littered with bright twinkling stars. He didn't realize how long he stayed but he didn't mind, it's been a while since he visted

his father's grave. it was about time he'd muster up some courage and go. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. before he had the chance to stick it in the ignition, his phone rang.(ringtone: One Winged Angel) He looked down at the calle ID and realized it was his superior calling.

_Amador...?_

_But why would he be calling?_

_and not to mention on my week off. not that I particularly care._

_but for him to call me out of the regular like this is off. something must me up!_

With no further hesitation, Hope swipe his finger across the answer button on his touch screen phone and raised it to his ear.

"Sergeant Estheim Speaking." He said in his utmost serious tone.

"Estheim." He began

"Apologies but your vacation is going to have to be cut short I need you back here at the Guardian Corps base pronto. I'll explain all else when you arrive. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

Hope responded then hung up his phone. something was definetly out of place, Amador's voice sounded a little off though he tried his best to cover it up. and that never happens. Hope stuck his key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. In a flash, he took off into the sky and was on his way to New Oerba.

* * *

**New Oerba- Guardian Corps Base**

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeep!

Security System: Access granted. please step in front of the camera for identification.

Hope stepped away from the key pad and directly in from of the camera. A bright red fluorescent light glided horizontally across his body then a blue one followed the same pattern but vertically.

Security System: Identity recognized Hope Estheim.

The locks on the steel door could be heard releasing. A long steel pole holding the door shut slide from its metal grooves and the door swung open.

He walked inside passing by many important people as well as receiving salutes from other soldiers, while he passed them by. He returned them in a quick motion and moved along towards the elevator. Some wanted to stop him for a quick talk but he had no time.

Inside the elevator Hope pushed the fifth floor button then leaned against the wall. The doors slid shut and the elevator began moving up, creating an odd feeling in Hope's stomach. His eyes glanced over to his right shoulder at his poldron that had the symbol of the Guardian Corps deeply etched into it and three neon yellow lights showing his rank. Then he remembered, someone else who use to wear the same one. Hope's stomach twisted at a certain memory that flashed across his mind. That sad and bad memory, the last time he had seen her.

"L-lightning.." He whispered sullenly, a hand reaching to glide through his soft silvery locks.

It had been three years since Hope last seen or spoken with Lightning. Sure he received letters from her but they remained unopened. He wanted nothing to do with her anymore not after their last words to each other last argument.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

_Lightning sat at the kitchen table in her Bohdum home starring outside the window. The sun was hot and beaming down on the soldier but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Hope entered the kitchen and stood about ten feet away from where Lightning was sitting. His hair hung over his eyes, face partially flustered from crying. She turned her head and focused her emotionless azure hues on him._

_"Hope?"_

_He walked up to a chair and sat down, taking in a deep breath before releasing it._

_"Lightning..." He said his voice monotone._

_Lightning looked over at him, expression blank but serious as always. but she reached one hand out and gently placed it on top of his._

_"What is it Hope?"_

_His body slightly trembled and the hand that she was holding clenched into a fist._

_"Uh Light, I've decided, that I want to join the Guardian Corps."_

_Lightning's eyes narrowed, her gaze showing nothing but disapproval._

_"I don't think so!" She answered firmly._

_Hope's sad puffy eyes shot up at Lightning, the tone of her voice sent chills down the center of his spine._

_"B-but Light I- " Hope tried to speak up for himself but Lightning cut him off._

_"No Hope! do you realize how dangerous that is for you? You're only 16!"_

_Hope bounced up from his seat and angrily slammed his hands down on the table._

_"So! You were my age as well when you joined!" He retorted._

_Lightning sighed out of fruestration_

_and pinched the bridge of her nose and turned her back to him._

_"My reasons were good enough, to protect Serah. But now, she doesn't need me anymore. Now its you I must look out for you. I promised a certain someone I would."_

_"And I'll be damned if that promise goes unkept."_

_Hope glared hard at Lightning but it was nothing compared to her's. The soldier just stood there not even flinching, like she was immune. Hope gave up and drew his eyes away from the stubborn soldier, but still proceeded to speak out for himself._

_"Well, I'm not a kid anymore. I can look after myself! Besides I never asked for you to look after me you offered! I don't need you to make my decisions for me! I can decide myself and I'm joining the army!"_

_"Like hell you are!"_

_Hope thundered out of the kitchen and up to his room. No one understood what he was going through he thought Lightning would knowing she had gone throough the same issue at his age but she didn't and that hurt him the most. He absently picked up a bag from beside his bed and began stuffing it with his clothes, tears trickling down his as he did so._

_Lightning's figure leand against the door's frame as she watched him. Her stoic expression still in tact. The boy could feel eyes staring at his back but it didn't phase his since he was in such a rage. Hope finished his packing and stood to his full height, wiping his red puffy eyes but keeping his head turned to the floor not even bothering to make eye contact with the stern pinkette standing at his door. He picked up his duffle bag and just walked passed him like she wasn't even there._

_"Hope..!"_

_Hope managed to make it to the bottom of the steps and to the door before he heard Lightning's voice ring through his ears but with a certain emotion that he couldn't put his finger on. He's heard it before but not in her voice, this shocked him causing the silver-haired boy to turn and face her._

_"Wh-what.."_

_Hope asked dryly._

_"If you walk out that door I..."_

_Hope waited for her to finish but apparently nothing else came. So he pulled open the front door and left._

_FLASHBACK ENDS_

* * *

"Dammit..."

Hope muttered to himself as the elevator doors opened. That memory hasn't bothered him for the past couple of years so why now? He stepped out the elevator and straight to Amador's office. He raised a hand to the door and gave a firm knock.

"Come in." Called a voice from the other side.

Hope turned the knob and let himself in. He stood at attention and saluted his superior.

"Good evening sir." He said now lowering his hand form his head.

Amador turned in his seat, his usual expression plastered across his face but anyone could tell something was wrong by the way his eyes narrowed.

"Have a seat Estheim."

Hope pulled up a chair and sat down. Judging by the look on his face the news he had to share wasn't good new. But what could it have to do with Hope?

"Sir, what's going on?" Hope asked eagerly.

It's Farron, She's missing. She's been missing for almost three years now. Went out on a misson and never returned.

Hope's eyes widened and his jaw fell open.

_Missing..?_

_three years...?_

_Lightning, where are you?_

* * *

**So what did you think? I know, I know Hope is OUT OF CHARACTER but he's an adult now so he has to grow up. but anyways, let me know how you feel :DD more chapters to come.**


	2. Shocking News

**Finally Chapter 2! I apologize for the long wait everyone my life has just been all over the place! busy busy busy! D: but ayway, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**DIACLAIMER:**

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 13 OR ITS CHARACTERS ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE CREATIVE MINDS OF SQUARE ENIX!**

* * *

******Chapter 2: Shocking News**

Hope's body stiffened, intense guilt was starting to overwhelm him. His heart began to rapidly race in his chest...

"She's been gone that long and I'm just being informed?"

_Why do you care Hope..?_

Amador cleared his throat and allowed his gaze to meet the angst boy.

"Well Estheim, you told the military that your where abouts to anyone was to be kept confidential, and wished not to be bothered by any family or friend matters Ecspecially, Farron."

That's right, those were his exact words. But he was young then, why would they take him seriously? The boy groaned as the guilt sank in deeper and deeper, clawing at him until he began to feel numbness.

_Stupid..._

_Hope you're stupid..._

_You were so caught up in yourself now, look what's happened...Oh Maker what did I do to deserve this.._

Hope was pulled from his thoughts when a flat cylinder shaped disk slipped from Amador's hand and onto the messy desk covered with folders and paper work.

"What's this, another piece to add to my guilt train?" Hope hissed, almost sounding close to a complaining kid.

"No" Amador replied in a strange tone, confused by Hope's statement.

"It's a recording showing Farron's current location."

Hope jumped in his seat and leaned forward over the desk, a gleam of hope showing in his eyes.

_A recording!_

_So she's still alive?_

_Well Amador never pronounced her dead but I thought he was beating around the bush to spare my feelings..._

Hope touched the play button; the device gave off faint humming sound as it played the recording.

_VISUAL:_

_-A male with pale blonde hair and icy cold blue hues, sat behind a desk in what appeared to be an office. He wore a long snow white jacket and a business suit that matched it underneath. The male smiled darkly and his pale lips parted to speak._

_"Nice try Cocoon, sending your troops to spy, but we are always one step ahead of you. Your attempt was futile."_

_faint cries of pain could be heard in the background but was hard to identify who they belonged to. Shortly after, two men dressed in dark blue uniforms clad in armor from the head down to mid torso, walked pass the camera dragging another between them._

_The pale blonde man laughed softly but deviously._

_"Surrender and maybe, just maybe we'll allow your "Sorry excuse for a soldier to live."_

_He gestured his hand and the two soldiers walked over dragging the body. the figure had strawberry blonde hair and her body hung limp as the soldiers held out both her arms. The figure raised their head to reveal their face but, the visual soon began lagging and cutting up. Eventually, to Hope's dismay the visual malfunctioned and shut down.-_

"Lightning! no! no!"

Hope picked up the device in attempt to find a way to turn it back on but it was useless. the thing was fried.

"Dammit!"

Hope yelled and threw the device into the wall, which caused it to split at the center and break into tiny fragments.

"Don't get too bent out of shape Estheim, that brief overview wasn't recent. I was actually recorded two years ago." Amador said as he traced the lining of his mustache with his thumb and index finger.

"You se-"

"Who is that man anyway and what's his problem with us?

Amador stood from behind his desk and began pacing the length of the floor.

"That man's name is unknown at this time, but he runs a large power company located in another region, the name of it is called Shin-Ra Inc. It's located in a city known as Midgar. The Sanctum and Midgar have been archrivals for 10 years now. Shin-Ra wanted to rob Cocoon of its Fal'cie to better power Midgar and increase their knowledge in technology. Apparently it has been said that they were successful in one part. But it was confirmed to me by Farron that it was all just a rumor. I sent her on a mission myself to scope out Midgar and no Falcie had been found.

However a few days after her return from Midgar, she came back to me and stated that she was quitting because she didn't want the ranks of the military to stop her from a personal mission that she was on. But apparently, whatever she went over there for, they recognized her as a soldier if Cocoon and-

"And she got kidnapped in the end!." Hope interrupted. Why is the Sanctum and Shin-Ra continuing to be so belligerent towards each other? Cocoon is crystallized and will remain crystallized until Maker knows when!. The Fal'cie are gone as well. So this feud between the two should have been long over!.

He released a frustrated sigh and stood up from his seat and began walking for the door. "Now Lightning is caught up in all of this."

There was no more time for a Cocoon history lesson Lightning was in trouble and needed to be saved, though there was a part of him saying who cares he pushes that aside and remembered the many times when Lightning was there to pull him from harm's way. Now it was his turn to be the savior. Something he's been wanting to do for years now. Hope faced his Superior one last time before pulling at the door knob, a stoic look across his face and his emerald green eyes reflected no emotion.

"Lieutenant, no disrespect but permission or not I'm going to find Lightning..."

Amador nodded firmly then placed a hand on Hope's shoulder. He'd already known Hope's preparations before hand.

Understandable Estheim, but you can't do this on your own. I'll assign a back-up squad so-"

"Permission to go solo Sir, having back up will only slow me down.

Besides..."

Hope's hand turned knob, a brief smile playing across his lips as a notable quote spoken by someone he once looked up to came to mind.

"It's not a question of can or can't...some things you just do."

Confidence and determination laced through out the silver haired boys voice as those words left his lips. He pulled the door open and exited leaving his superior speechless.

* * *

**Midgar: Shin-Ra Inc. Laboratory**

**Lightning's P.O.V.**

"A-anyone else!"

She yelled in a hoarse voice then grunted painfully. Her legs gave out beneath her and her body started growing numb. A puddle of crimson liquid mixed with sea green ooze was spilling around the injured soldier growing larger and larger. Her right arm tightly wrapped around her left side clutching a fresh wound.

"D-damn, what did they do to me..?"

With what little strength she had, Lightning picked herself up off the ground and made her way towards the double doors of the lab.

"N-no! stay away!"

Lightning halted and slowly turned her head to the right of her. A man in a white lab coat sat in a corner wide eyed staring at her.

"Don't please..."

The man cried, as he helplessly tried to scramble further into the corner away from the injured but angered pinkette coming closer to him inch by inch. The woman stopped a mere fifteen feet away from the man, uneven breaths passing her lips as she struggled to raise her arm containing a rifle. The frightened man shielded his arms over his head, body trembling like a terrorized child.

"P-please... don't hurt me!"

A shaky finger genth pressed on the trigger of loaded weapon. though, weak due to a large amount of blood loss, The woman still maintained her stability. Emotionless azure hues that were screened by her wet strawberry blonde hair, narrowed dangerously. The defenseless man still begged for his life but his words fell upon deaf ears. An index finger swiftly grasped the gun's trigger, replacing the man's cries of mercy with three loud gunshots that bellowed throughout the now silent Shin-Ra laboratory.

Her arm fell back to her side and the rifle made a loud thundering clash onto the steel floors. Lightning felt her conscious slipping quickly. she felt weary and fatigued. The room started spinning and twisting around in a fast motion then her vision started giving out. Lightning fell backwards onto the cold steel floors, inhaling and exhaling roughly and raggedly it felt as if she was running for a long period of time her lungs were on fire. cold beads of sweat poured from the pinkette's forehead. Lightning tried her hardest to fight her current state as long she could when her body wouldn't allow it any longer her vision grew more and more blurry until she was losing color. Before blacking out completely, she saw a figure walking towards her saying something incoherent. She couldn't make out what he looked like or what he was wearing but his hair seemed to be pushed back into a ponytail. He knelt down in front of her and shook his head in disgust and disappointment.

"Damn scientist..always experimenting on someone..."

The male knelt down and checked her vital signs. He smiled it was no shock to him that she was still alive.

"Lucky you eh.."

The male picked her up bridal style and walked out the doors of the laboratory.


	3. Not So Happy Reunion

**Chapter 3: Not So Happy Reunion.**

**New Palumpolum: 21:01pm**

Hope entered his home and quickly started stripping away his suit and rushed over to his closet to switch out into something else for his journey. "Ah, this will do." Hope quickly changed into one of his military uniforms that consisted of a short sleeve yellow and white coat and a light blue neck tie. The pants he chose were a faded grey in color, and black combat boots that stopped just below his calf muscles. Next he snapped his storage pack around his waist that he filled up with necessary items, strapped his gunblade case to the buckles on the back of his coat. "Alright ready to go." He grabbed his gunblade from its place on his wall and placed it in the case on his back. Expediently he walked to the door of his home ready to leave but, an unexpected visitor decided to stop by. "Neh S-serah." He stammered and scratched the back of his head. "What are you doing here?" He asked a little awkwardly. Serah was probably the only one that Hope kept in contact with during his time in the military. Anyone else he could care less about. Serah stepped closer to the silver haired male and threw her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. "You okay? What's wrong?" He asked and circled his arms around the girl's sides. After Lightning left Serah had grown rather depressed. So depressed that Snow eventually left her. Hope of course resented Snow after that. After all he went through to get Lightning's approval to be with his sister, he leaves her when she needed him most. So that was when Hope stepped in and basically helped Serah through her slump. Since then, the two have been dating.

"Yeah I'm fine." She responded. "I just wanted to come see you is all. I know it's really late but I was just having trouble sleeping." She explained.

Hope sighed and kissed the girl on the forehead. "Serah I'm going to look for Lightning." He said straight forward. It was short notice and he himself didn't know that something like this would come up but he had to go Lightning could have been in some serious danger. "Amador informed me that she went on some personal mission three years ago and never came back. Did you know?"

She nodded. "Yeah but I never told you because you said that you didn't want to hear anything about Lightning that's why I only told you very little."

He couldn't be mad at him only himself. He did say that but again he didn't think anyone took him seriously. "Right…" He kissed the pinkette then stepped back away from her. He gave her a small smile before walking over to his velocycle and starting up the engine. Serah walked alongside him and frowned. She wasn't ready to say good-bye to him. He looked back at the girl and cupped her cheek in the palm of her hand. "Don't be sad I'll be back I promise. And Lightning will be with me alright.." He tossed her the card key to his house and hopped inside the levitating mobile. "Stay here for the night alright. It's too late for you to be wandering around. He smiled and the girl nodded. "Alright, I'll be back. He said then took off into the sky with the velocycle.

**~xxxxxx~**

It had been several hours since he departed his home and left on his journey. Hope zoomed at speeds of 120mph across the open plains. There were thousands of monsters that he encountered here and there but there was no need to encounter them since he was in his mobile. Chocobo of different colors dashed across the plains escaping from their predators and other wild life that would do them harm. Yea he was definitely somewhere different because Pulse only had one color chocobo and that was yellow. "What an interesting breed of chocobo." He mumbled to himself. Lush vegetation surrounded this area of plain but it was far more tamed then what Pulse had. It seemed peaceful none the less but baleful at the same time. Areas like this always had its share of badness.

Caught up in the sights, Hope became startled when something crashed against the back of his velocycle. "What the!?" He turned his head to the back of him to see some strange creatures with glowing eyes jumping up on the back of his vehicle. "The hell!?" one of the creatures jumped up into the velocycle knocking Hope out and causing him to roll against the ground. Hope quickly stood to his full height and drew his gunblade in sword mode. The rest of the strange creatures lounged at him but when he went to attack, his sword went directly through them. "Wh-what the!?" He went in for another swing at another one, but the same thing happened. "What is this!?" The creatures toppled Hope to the ground but as strange as it was, they weren't trying to attack him. "Get, get off of me!." He shouted out but the creatures did not obey him. Seconds later, a wisp of darkness flashed across his eye then suddenly an old man in lab coat was at his side. "Wh-who are you?"

"Very good my pets." He said giggling like a maniac. The scientist ignore Hope's question and reach into his lab coat and pulled out a syringe that had something clear in it. "Now stay still, this will be over in just a few seconds." The old man stabbed the needle into the male's shoulder and injected the fluid into his blood stream.

"Wh-what is…" Hope started feeling the effects of whatever it was he was stuck with. Everything started spinning and his eyes started getting heavy before he blacked out.

**Unknown Location- 15:12pm**

Vivid jade optics slowly peeled open and blinked twice to clear up. A groan with a mixture of bubbles slipped over his lips and-

Wait..bubbles?

Where….?

What...water?

The male pushed his body up in attempt to come up out of the water but instead he ended up knocking his head on whatever it was that was keeping him inside. What was going on and how'd he end up here? Last thing he remembered was that scientist stabbing him with that needle. Everything after that was a blur.

He swam back down into the water and gently pressed his face against the glass to see if he could get a look at glimpse on what was occurring on the outside.

There were several men patrolling around holding either a strange gun or a sword within their hands. To the right he saw three men in white coats conversing and discussing something amongst one another as well as writing something down on a note pad. A squeaky noise that sounded equivalent to the sound of a rusty door came from the right and in rolled a stretcher with an unconscious man strapped to it. Behind the stretcher came two other men dressed in white, carrying a metal crate that read; _for testing_, written across it.

Another two people walked in behind the men though this time it was an odd looking old man with glasses. That was him!. The man who stabbed him. The creepy man took a glimpse at Hope and the male immediately closed his eyes like he was still asleep. He took a few steps forward and pressed his hand against the tank. "After we finish with him, we get to work immediately on this specimen here." He said as he rubbed his hands together.

'_Specimen..?'_ Hope thought. He was no one's specimen!.

The two scientists began stripping the man that was on the stretcher and sticking five needles containing Mako in different areas on his upper body. Of course Hope had no knowledge of what the glowing substance.

Hope peeled his eyes open slightly but not enough for the two to notice that he was actually watching all that was taking place. The two scientists then pried open the metal box and reached inside. Out, one of them pulled this glowing purple grey ball of energy.

'_What in the world….?'_

The scientist picked up the ball of energy and placed it over the chest of the unconscious male and it quickly sank in. Suddenly groans and screams of agonizing pain escaped the lips of the once unconscious male. His body bucked and arched against the bed as if he were trying to get out but the restraints were holding him in place.

_'What the…..?'_

Hope watched on in terror, over the years he's seen terrible incidents of torture happen to enemies of their military but what he was witnessing was on another level of torture.

What were they doing to these people...?

The male's body suddenly came to a resting position and he appeared to be unconscious again but was breathing very heavily.

"Heh-heh-heh" The creepy man laughed darkly. "Finally after three years of experiment on him, I finally believe that this was what I needed to complete the experiment.

"I gotta get out of here…" Hope said to himself.

"Awaken…my project!."

Upon the male opening his eyes, a vein in both his arms became more defined and showed some type of silver liquid flowing through them. Two streaks of white were present within the bangs of his deshelved black hair. His eyes were silver and appeared to hold no type of emotion.

"This is so twisted…" Another scientist entered the lab room, giving the male a route for escape. "Gotta get this on the first try.."

While the creepy man and the other scientist were busy admiring their specimen, Hope used a strong kick of his foot and clashed it against the glass tank. The tank shattered upon impact, grabbing everyone's attention. Hope, along with the gooey substance that he thought was water came flowing out and spread all over the floor.

The Platinum haired male quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the nearest door he could get out of.

The creepy man thought this to be the best time for him to test out the abilities of his new project. "Go get him and return him to me dead or alive. It's your choice but make sure he stays in one peace!." He said to the dark haired individual.

A dark smirk shaped the male's lips as he stood from the lab table. Two blades materialized from nothing at the palms of his hands. "No problem there, I'll dance with him for a bit then I'll kill him." He said morosely before taking off.

'_Run Hope run run!'_He thought to himself. He didn't even bother to take a glance behind him for he knew for a fact that he was being chased. Strangely, his head started to feel a little odd and his muscles started to really ache. The pain alone was something he had never felt in his life. It was almost the feeling of being stabbed with tiny needles and a little burning every few seconds. It was beginning to slow him down for the most part.

The footsteps of the soldiers were becoming louder and louder as his pace grew slower and slower.

The boy soon tripped up and tumbled down into a nearby ditch. He almost stood up but ducked back down in an instant. The soldiers passed over the ditch and kept on going. Hope waited until the sound of their footsteps were no longer heard before he peeked his head up out of the hole. "That was-was close.." He mumbled as he pulled himself out the ditch which served to be very difficult due to the increasing pain within his limbs and muscles. He soon began to wonder if his condition had anything to do with that gooey green stuff he was sitting in prior to his escape.

The male gritted his teeth as he stood to his feet and took a look around. The sky, what little of it he was able to see, was grey-ish white in color with a cluster of dark clouds off in the distance. The sound of light thunder roared above, making it known that a storm was soon coming. The area was surrounded in foliage covered debris with large pieces of metal everywhere. Broken leaky pipes, destroyed and rundown buildings. The air was also very stuffy. Hope guessed that this place was once a city. But what could have happened to it?

"Going somewhere?"

Hope swiftly turned around but took a few steps back. It was that guy that had underwent that experiment. The platinum haired male reached over his back and quickly pulled his gunblade out in sword mode. This guy looked even more terrifying standing than when he was lying on that table. But Hope feared no one. "Ah, you're that experiment from the lab!. What do you want?"

The male's laugh started out as a low one and gradually grew to a louder tone. He found the male's question amusing for he should already have known that he was there for him. "If it's not already obvious, I'm here to kill you!" The dark haired male's figure flashed to one of the trees behind Hope and he tossed one of his blades in Hope's Direction.

Hope attempted to dodge but with the strange male moving at speeds he could not keep up with, he was unable to dodge and took the blade directly to his shoulder. Hope squeezed his eyes shut and grunted.

"Wow, this battle seems like it's going to be easier than I expected it to be. I was hoping for it to be more challenging than this. I wanted to test out some of my new found abilities on you before I dragged your carcass back to Hojo." He sighed. "What a waste."

Hope took in a deep breath and peered up at the blade that was through his shoulder. He reached up and tensed his hand around the weapon's hilt and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Good night boy!." He flickered through the trees until his figure was positioned up above Hope's. He swung his second blade down towards the other's head, believing that this was the end for the platinum haired male but, Hope swiftly parried with two back flips and a side dash to the right. "Ruinga!."

Hope waved his arm through the air which created this large sphere of energy over his enemy's head before it exploded. The male's figure bounced and slammed against the ground leaving somewhat of a dent in the surface from the impact. Hope, still having the sword in his shoulder, began conjuring up another magic based attack.

The male quickly recovered from his position and stood from the ground with not a scratch on him. With quick movements like earlier, he swiftly positioned himself behind Hope and swung his blade for the boy's neck this time, but Hope intercepted the point in which the blade would hit with his own blade. Sparks emitted from both blades briefly as they clashed. Hope pushed all his strength onto his blade against the others but his strength alone wasn't enough against this guy. The unknown male didn't even look as if her were trying.

Hope grunted and continued to try and keep this up but his legs started shaking as well as his arms. It made it no better that he was also heavily bleeding out from the wound on his shoulder. But he wasn't about to give up, not this easy and not this early. He was a soldier for crying out loud. His footing slipped and he lost his balance, making the two blades slide from their original position. The male smirked and found this as a great advantage and swung his blade down fast as soon as the action occurred.

_Crash!_

The blade went against the ground, dirt flew up from the surface creating a large smoggy cloud of dust that covered the entire area around them. Silence filled the air, only the sound of wind blowing through the trees could be heard. The project laughed darkly and bought his blade up over his shoulder. "It's over.." He said to himself as the dust cleared up. "!" Shock overcame him when all his eyes fell upon was a fifteen foot fissure along the ground from impact, no body. "What!?"

"Never underestimate your opponent!." Hope rushed down from the side of a tree and drove the male's blade, the one he had stabbed into his shoulder earlier, clean through his stomach. The experiment's eyes were wide with shock as blood leaked from the corner of his lips. He coughed and placed a hand over his stomach. "Th-this…this isn't over!." He said then took off at the speed of light.

"A-ugh…" Hope kneeled down to take a few seconds to catch his breath. Thank Pulse for that Grav-con Unit or he'd been dead. He wasn't at all surprised that his opponent didn't die upon that last strike. He was that creepy man's experiment after all. Hope stood to his feet and tucked his arms behind his head and began roaming through the city. While he journeyed through the abandoned city, his mind raced about the unknown male and the lab men. Already he knew whatever they were up to was no good. But it was none of his business and he wasn't trying to get tangled up in it. He came here to find Lightning and that was it.

"Agh!." Hope groaned. Too much was occurring at once for his brain to process. Maybe when he finds out where he is and someone to give him information then everything will be clearer.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Hope found his way out. But he was everything but gleeful about it. The male stepped out onto the wide open plain of green grass and frowned. He'd just found his way out of one area just to get caught up in another one. A flash of lightning ripped through the dark clouds and a loud clap of thunder followed soon after, along with a down pour of rain that caused his silver locks to droop and stick to his face. "Great, as if things weren't bad enough already.." His eyes scanned over the open lands until his eyes fell upon something far off in the distance. "Hmm…" It was pretty far off but if it was a place he could find shelter and some answers, then he was better off there.

Another clap of thunder sounded and Hope dashed across the open plain, sprinting as fast as his legs would allow him to. Closing in on the new area, the male was encountered by some unexpected visitors; soldiers but not the same soldiers from where he had escaped from, these soldiers were dressed in white. "Not this again.." One by one a row of soldiers rushed at him. "You've got to be kidding me…" He extended his arm out at his side with his gunblade in sword mode. Swiftly without thinking, he swung his arm in an arch and landed a hit on three of the soldiers at one time. They grunted and fell to the ground.

The last seven circled around the male's figure and started shooting. Hope smirked and knelt down on one knee, again extending his arm out at his side. Sliding his right foot out slightly, the brunette spun on his left foot performing a spin attack that hit all seven of the soldiers at least twice before he finally came to a stop. The soldiers fell back against the ground, injured or either dead and missing limbs that were scattered around the ground.

Hope groaned and fell on his back as another pain flared up in his muscles. It seemed he had to take it easy with fighting for a while since it was stirring up the pain. He took in a few deep breaths and waited for it to subside before standing to his feet. "Ah-ouch!" He stuck the gunblade into the ground and rested his weight against the hilt. His heart was racing fast like he'd been running a marathon. He inhaled the exhaled and repeated but his heart rate would not slow down. He looked up to see that he was right in the city's limits. A sign to the right read; City of Edge.

With what little strength he had, the boy pulled his weapon from the ground and dragged it at his side, while staggering into the city.

**Edge City-17:05pm**

It was dark, but that was no surprise, after all the weather was pretty ugly at this time of day, though that didn't seem to stop people from going about their day. There were many people, ranging from children to adult roaming through the streets of this city. Hope stood still at the entrance covering his face with the palm of his hand as he swallowed down a cry of pain that almost absently rose from his throat. He breathed again and dropped his hand back to his side. Dull viridians carelessly became acquainted with his new surroundings, though his vision wasn't at its clearest. Even the small chatter that the people around him were making sounded distorted.

"LI-LIGHTNING!"

He shouted absently, causing all of the people around him to stare at him strangely. Whispers erupted from person to person some even pointed but it went unnoticed by the boy since he was so disoriented.

"H-hey…excuse me.." he hobbled over to one of the citizens, somewhat frightening them. "H-have," His weapon slipped from his hands and made a clank sound against the asphalt. E-excuse me…I'm looking for someone p-perhaps you've seen-" He grabbed the center of his chest and fell to his knees groaning in pain. "Pi-pi-pi-pi-ink h-hair…." He whispered out, and then groaned again. The pain was growing more and more intense until he started rolling around on the ground.

The people started screaming and scurrying away from the brunette boy, shouting something that went along the lines of its another one, another experiment.

Not so long after, all Hope could see were a bunch of armed men surrounding him. The silver haired male went to stand up but was forced back down on the ground, with his arms being forced behind his back. Whatever occurred after that was a blank because he blacked out.

**Unknown Location- 17:11pm**

Lightning groaned slightly feeling disoriented as she came to. A pale hand rose to brush the pink bangs from sheilding her eyes. What happened? How long had she been blacked out for? More importantly, where was she? The soldier sat up on what seemed to be a black leathered couch. It was rather chilly in the room. The air blew around her every so many seconds causing her to shiver. But why was she so cold to begin with? She rubbed her hands up and down her arms when she realized that her clothes were gone. Form her chest down to the base of her torso she was bandaged up.

"What the!?" She pulled the white fleece blanket up over her body and took a look around at the unfamiliar location she was in. Whoever it was that stripped her of her close was going to get a beat down. From the looks of things it appeared to be a basement but not just any basement. It looked like someone affiliated with Shin-Ra lived here.

Off to the right there was a lit-up glass desk. On top sat folders, and scattered paperwork that trailed off on to the floor and a laptop with wires of many different colors emerging from the back. The computer's screen had various different codes going across it and big bright red letters reading access granted. Off in another corner sat lab equipment of some sort. Behind the lab equipment was a wall lined with a variety of weapons ranging from; guns, and swords. on the floor in a black create were grenades and other types of explosives.

Where ever she was she wasn't liking it one bit Lightning

"So you're finally awake huh?"

Came a voice from the door that had opened seconds ago. Lightning pulled herself back on to the couch that she fell off and focused on the figure that made his way into the room. As he drew closer his features became more clear. He had a pale fair completion identical to her own, shoulder length hair that was spikey in the front but she couldn't make out the color, and amethyst optics with a strange glow that Lightning recognized causing her body to cringe.

His clothing consisted of a grey turtle-neck sweater the left arm sleeved and the other sleeveless. over his shoulders were two black pauldrons. Covering his legs, were a pair of black baggy pants.

_'A Shin-Ra operative...'_

She thought. Great just when she though she was out of the hairs of those Shin-Ra scum here she was sitting right in the home of one. The male stopped just in the back of the couch. He stared down at the woman for a few seconds before cracking a small hint of a smile for her. But his looked as if he was hoping for something.

Lightning stared at the individual with bewilderment written all over her face. All she could wonder about was the reason for him smiling. She didn't do or say anything that could make this stranger want to smile at her. "You're…really creeping me out you know that?" She said then rolled her eyes in another direction. This whole little situation was making her feel very uncomfortable and wished that he would stop. "Back off!." She growled lowly, which made the male take a few steps back and chuckle a little bit.

"Well at least I know you're still you, Light." The male said as he walked on to the other side of the room. It had been a total of three years since he'd last seen the woman, he almost gave up hope that he would ever find her. He looked off to the side with a small grin before swinging his arms back and forth and facing the woman. "You scared the hell out of me, kinda thought you were dead for a moment, then again, you've been through worse so..I had the slightest feeling that you would survive."

'_Survive….survive what?'_

The woman carefully pulled herself up into a sitting position on the sofa. She grit her teeth and took in deep breaths as she placed her hand over the bandaged area where her wound was located. She squeezed her eyes shut for the pain was dull but it was still very nagging and a bit too much for her to handle but she was feeling a little better than she was earlier. She took one more slow breath then looked up at the male with questioning eyes. She still wanted to know what he meant. "What are you talking about I survived..?" She grunted and bit down on her lip. "Survived what..?"

'_You don't…..remember?'_ The male blinked twice then tilted his head to the side slightly puzzled. He was a little shocked that the woman had forgotten the events that happened prior to now. Then again, she was floating around in the lifestream for a long period of time and that can have a dramatic effect on one's body. Perhaps if he says a few things it may jog her memory a bit..hopefully. He walked towards the woman and took a seat in the chair across from her. "Remember you dived into the lifestream after Sephiroth dropped the summoning materia?"

Lightning arched her eyebrow and stared at the male perplexed. She didn't know anything about what he was talking about. "What…?"

"Think Light," The male pushed. He reached over and placed one of his hands on top her's. "After the materia fell in you were more than willing to dive into the lifestream to re-obtain it because you wanted to save your friends…" He tried that but the woman's expression still didn't seem to change up at all. He sighed then slouched back down in his chair. This was going to be a long hard process. If she couldn't remember anything then how was he supposed to help her with what she wanted to do before she dived into the stream, before they all got knotted up in Shin-Ra's hairs!? He dropped his head on the table and gently banged it. There had to be something she remembered. "Ah!."

He quickly sat up, but looked off to the right with sadness in his eyes. He wasn't sure if he wanted to even mention that name to her. It may jog her memory but then, if she does remember and realizes that that person isn't present, then how would he explain that to her?

'_Take care of everything here, when we both return we'll pick up where we left off.._

"Idiot…" He said lowly then looked over at the woman. That guy was always jumping into things without thinking it through fully. Unlike Lighting, he wasn't injected with any form of Mako or Jenova cells so the effect the lifestream would have on his body was unknown. Not to mention that it was raw Mako he dove into. The Mako Shin-Ra had produced was processed. But raw Mako could deteriorate, mutate, or alter one's body and genetic code if they can't handle it. _'What if he's dead…'_ After three years of searching, Lightning was the only one to show up.

"What about.." He started but trailed off, thinking about whether or not he wanted to mention the name. "What about_him_…the one that dived in with you, do you remember _his name_?"

"Remember who?" She didn't remember anything so of course she didn't remember the name of whoever it was he was talking about. But this guy didn't seem like he was going to give up until she said or remembered something familiar. Lightning closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "Now remind me again what happened. I need a lot of details if you want me to remember." She said to the male.

The male then began explaining to her everything from the beginning when they all first met all the way up until the present day. But he mentioned no names, hoping that the woman would remember those on her own. "And that's everything.." He said then sat back waiting for the results.

Lightning laid back on the couch, still keeping her eyes closed as the story that the male told her played over and over in her head. It was strange how everything he spoke of seemed made up yet she was able to piece it together and some of it felt a little familiar to her, almost too familiar….

'_I thought I told to search the south region Xay-'_

'_I'm jealous of you Lightning you and Sephiroth get to bask in all the glory while-'_

'_I know at first I was in this only for myself but, being around the two of you has made me realize a lot. Light, Xay-"_

'_He's only trying to help you Lighting..'_

'_What made you enlist?'_

'_I just don't want anything to happen to you Lightning…'_

'_LIGHTNING!.'_

'_Then I'm going with you!."_

The flashes just kept coming and flowing back into her mind at a fast rate. Lightning's eyes snapped open and she quickly jolted up from the couch, resulting in her to groan in severe pain. "I-I remember now…I remember everything.." She said then looked up at the individual who still had yet to show his face to her. "I remember everything…Oraian."

He smiled then turned on the lamp in the center of the table. "I knew you would eventually. So what exactly-"

"Where, where's Xayne?" Lightning asked realizing that the male wasn't present in the room with them.

Oraian sighed and turned his eyes to the floor, shaking his head slowly before speaking. "I-I don't know. It was luck that I found you. If it wasn't for the attack from Remnants unleashing an attack on the city, I probably would have never found you. But Xayne, I'm not sure where he is. Or if he's even alive…"

Lightning's eyebrows curved inward and she closed her eyes. Last time she saw Xayne was before they were split up in the lifestream. She had no idea that Xayne would actually dive in behind her. Sephiroth had approached them and engaged in battle with Lightning for a second time. Xayne had spotted the materia and went after it. "I fought Sephiroth but I was too weak to stand against him. He was going to kill me but didn't because he said that I'll perish in the lifestream and left. And that's when I passed out. The final time I seen Xayne was when he swam after the materia. But I know he's alive, Xayne doesn't go down easily."

Oraian nodded. If Lightning believed then why couldn't he? Xayne was always a stubborn one so him meeting his demise in the lifestream was highly unlikely. "Then we'll find him, and the Bhuinevelze materia. And together we'll finish what we started, like we all promised!" He smirked and gave his head a firm nod. "But.." The confident smirk faded from his face. "I'll have to fill you in on what's going on now. I must say, you've missed a lot in these three years. A lot has changed, you should know that much."

'_Three years….that long?'the soldier thought to herself._

"Oh yeah..then fill me in."

"Sure thing, but first things first." He walked over to his computer and punched something on the keyboard and a hologram menu popped up in front of him. "You need some new clothes." He stepped back as Lightning made her way towards the computer and turned his back. "I know you're probably heated about me stripping you but I had to get you out of those Mako soaked clothes. Heh…"

Lightning glared at the back of the male's head and clenched her hand into a tight fist. She would have socked him in the head but, he saved her and for that she was grateful. "Well I hope you got an eye full because it's the first and last time you'll ever see me undressed."

'_Oh I did..'_ He said and snickered to himself which resulted in him getting a fist in the back of the head. "Ouch geez what was that for!?"

Lightning didn't answer and just searched through the choices of clothing until she found one that she liked in particular. She clicked it and the word processing appeared on the screen. Just seconds later the clothes appeared in a tray below the system. Lightning grabbed the clothes and quickly began dressing herself, despite the fact Oraian was standing there. "Alright, start talking, just don't turn around yet."

"Right.." He said still rubbing the back of his head. After that happened he would keep his back turned. Not wanting to know what would happen to him if he tried to take a small peak. "A-anyways, well after you and Xayne dived into the life stream it was left up to me and the rest of AVALANCHE to finish everything off. We did of course and as you already know Midgar met its demise prior to those events. So now Midgar is just ruins. But over the past three years we constructed a new city just on the outskirts of it. We call it Edge. Even though Midgar is in ruins, there are still people that live within it. But they are mostly experiments of Hojo and followers of the Shin-Ra. They call themselves The Remnants. While we haven't had any leads on Sephiroth we believe the Remnants have a connection to him."

"Wait, Hojo is still alive!? I thought he was dead!." Lightning commented as she finished dressing herself. She looked in the mirror that was on the front of the door of the bathroom and nodded.

"Yea I thought so too. But no, He's alive and has been causing the WRO a great deal of trouble.."

"WRO…?"

"The World Regenesis Organization. It was founded by a man named Reeve Tuesti. After Shin-Ra's fall, we vowed to protect the planet from harm. It started with Just the AVALANCHE members but then started to grow in numbers. We're basically the new form of Shin-Ra military, only we wanna keep the peace. But the Remnants are keeping that from happening.

"Uh-huh, so the WRO and Remnants are warring?"

He nodded. "Yea. But not-"his phone buzzed in his pocket and he reach down to answer it. "Oraian speaking." He listen to what the person on the other line had to say, nodding and saying things like uh-huh, and okay. "What….?" He looked up at Lightning who only blinked at him. "Alright I'll be there shortly." He clicked the end key and placed in back within his pocket. "Well seems like we have someone in custody. One of the soldiers said that they found some guy running from the Midgar Ruins and he was stopped upon entering Edge. He's being transported to Headquarters where he'll be questioned. In the meantime, that's where we'll be headed."

"What if it's Xayne..?" Lightning added.

Oraian wanted to say he highly doubted it but he didn't want Lightning's confidence to fade away. "Well we need to hurry up and find out then…"

**WRO Headquarters- 17:40pm**

"Ugh..." Hope groaned as his emerald optics slowly opened up but quickly closed when a bright light snapped on above his head. He turned his head to the side and opened his eyes half-way. The light was still very bright but it beat having it shins down in his sensitive eyes. He felt drained and very weak. He couldn't feel anything in his arms or legs, it probably was because of the tight restraints holding him in place, and his head was pounding like someone had taken a metal bat and bashed him over the head. As bad as he wanted to complain about his current condition, he couldn't he had to put that aside for now. But for starters, where was he now? Last thing he was able to remember was arriving in a city.

A door opened and shut behind him then the sound of foots steps against the floor pulled his attention. Two figures walked around in front of the platinum haired male. One held a folder in his hand and the other stood by with his arms behind his back giving off a mean look at the male. Hope felt a slight chill channel down his spine and shifted nervously in his chair. The man, the one with the folder in his hand cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Alright kid, you have no form of ID present on you, no one in this town has ever seen you before, and what makes you even more suspicious some of our men seen you fleeing from the ruins of Midgar, also known to be the location of The Remnant's Headquarters."

Hope raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit. These people were really strict on outsiders. "So, what are you trying to accuse me of, looking suspicious? If that's all you really-"

The guard on the right that was glaring at him right-hooked Hope in the jaw. The boy's head jerked violently to the right as the punch connected. The platinum haired male had been struck by many things during his time in the military magic, swords, staffs, bullets, and more. But, none of that pain could compare to this. That man's fist felt like iron.

"Keep quiet you Remnant spy!" Hope adjusted his jaw a bit, luckily it wasn't broken but it hurt like hell. He then coughed and spit out a mouth full of blood onto the floor.

_'A Remnant spy, What was a Remnant?'_It was the second time he heard it mentioned.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know what or who Remant is. I just woke up here in the labs and I'm looking for my-"

Another hard hit was delivered to the boy's jaw only this time it was the left one. How was he supposed to plead his case if he wasn't allowed to say anything? That wasn't fair! "Shut up!" The man spoke again. Another mouth full of blood was spit out on the floor. Hope was just glad that none of his teeth was knocked out from Mr. Iron Fist. Hope raised his head and dropped it back against the chair. The light that was turned on when he had first wakened up was shining in his eyes once again, only this time it wasn't bothering him. He was in too much pain care.

"You're so busy worried about me, what you should be concerned about is what they're cooking up in that lab in those ruins!" The boy said through gritted teeth, remembering the horrid things he saw within the labs.

"You dare threaten the WRO in your current state? We can execute you for this!."

Man were they idiots. They couldn't tell a threat from a warning.

"It's not a threat I'm trying to warn you! You're going to be in some trouble if you don't listen to me. Those people, your enemy, they're-" Again the boy was quieted with a punch to his stomach.

Hope squeezed his eyes shut and groaned as the pain swam across his stomach. His conscious wavered in and out. " Ahhgh.." He groaned out loud. The boy felt like he could cry right now after all the horrible damage his body had gone through in just a few hours. These people were harsh who does this type of thing? "Would y-you guys just lissssten to meeeee.." He said, now begging the two men, but his words were ignored.

"Li-lightning….."

"Transport him to the cell we'll report to Reeve and get his word on what to do with this guy." Hope could feel the restraints being undone from his arms, legs and mid-section. If he was in a better condition, his first action would have been to attack these guys and run but he couldn't instead he just slumped over. "Please..just answer me this one question.."

He his words were ignored once again and soon after a black burlap bag was placed over his head and his body was laid over the man's shoulder and the man walked outside the door.

**~xxxxxx~**

Arriving at the cell, the man pulled the sack from Hope's head and shoved the boy into the cell. Hope slid across the cold metal floor and hit his head against the wall. The man scuffed and shut the door behind him, the locks clicking loudly into place before the man walked off.

Hope sat up and looked around at his surroundings. The cell was very small in size all it had was a toilet and a bed that wasn't even made. "How'd I get into this mess..." He mumbled. Oh that's right, he arrived in the wrong place at the wrong time, just his luck. Then he got all beat up. Both sides of his face were probably black and blue now. All this just to find Lightning, a woman he has so many words for. "She owes me whenever I find her!." He mumbled. A guard walked pass his cell and then turned back around and walked in the other direction.

"Hey!." Hope shouted through gritted teeth. He couldn't open his mouth because it hurt too badly. "You got the wrong guy. See, I'm innocent!" All he got was a shut up and a rude comment from the guard. Hope huffed and banged his fist against the metal wall which only caused him to injure is hand. The male shook his hand and rubbed it with the other. Haven't they heard of being innocent until proven guilty? Apparently not, not here anyway it's your guilty and will remain guilty no matter if your innocent!."

It was rare for him to get mad at anything unless it involved those close to him. But these people here were really pushing his buttons. Accusing him of being something he's not and not taking him seriously. The nerve of them. Well if that's how they wanted to be then he'll take matters into his own hands.

"I gotta get out of here!"He said and searched around the cell for a way out but sadly there wasn't one. The cell was small in size and was composed of nothing but steel. They made sure that escape was impossible. "Great." He slid down against the wall and buried his head in his hands. There was an odd silence besides the constant flickering of one of the incandescent bulbs above his head. What a great way to start out his mission. If it were Lightning she would have never been caught and if she were then she would have come up with some clever way of escaping. That's just how she was. Hope's mind was usually pulsing with brilliant ideas, but this one caught him off guard and therefore couldn't come up with a thing. "Dammit.." He mumbled and kicked his foot against the wall.

"Yes.." He heard on the other side of the cell door. Hope quickly crawled over and pressed his ear agains the chill surface. Sounded like some type of conversation was taking place.

"Yes Oraian sir," The soldier continued. "He claims he's not a Remnant but one of the soldiers spotted him coming from the Midgar ruins."

Oraian nodded. Very well then we will have a talk with him ourselves. If seems suspicious or have any hints of being a Remnant he'll be executed tomorrow morning."

"Executed!?" Hope said and pulled away from the door. He had to escape out of here now. The chances of them believing that he wasn't some Remnant was slim to none. The lock on the cell door clicked and it slowly started to slide open. Hope had the idea of rushing out the minute the door was fully open but he had a feeling that the cell block was littered wit soldiers and would only result in his own death by doing so. The door had fully opened up and Hope sat with his head against his knees. The two walked in and the guard closed the door behind them.

"Look I know you're here because you heard that I may be affiliated with something called the Remnants but I'm not!." He shouted trying to plead his case before the other had a chance to speak. "It's all a misunderstanding and-" Hope rose his head from his knees and shock came over him. His jaw fell agape and his eyes were a tremendous size when he locked eyes with the woman beside the male. "Li-Lightning!?"

Lightning was just as shocked as he was she didn't know much of what to say. She almost didn't recognize him at all but she knew that silver hair anywhere and those bright green eyes. It was him. "Hope!."


	4. Back On Track!

**Chapter 4: Back On Track**

"Wait," Oraian said, looking back and forth between the two that were trading stares with one another. The dual color haired male crossed his arms over one another and tapped his index finger against his chin. "You two know each other?"

Hope's eyes narrowed and he scuffed as he stood to his full height. He was pleased to see the woman before him alive but it wasn't like this was going to be some tearful happy reunion with her, no. "Yes, in fact we do." He said placing a hand over his injured shoulder. The bleeding still continued but it wasn't nearly as bad as earlier when he went up against that ebony haired experiment. However he still needed it treated and bandaged before it was to get infected. At the moment that was the least of his problems. "Me and Lightning here were _close_ at one point." He said, putting emphasis on the word close. "Can't say that we still are." He said allowing his eyes to bounce up and down the woman's figure, a look of distaste on his face. "After a certain situation."

Lightning wasn't at all bothered by Hope's comments nor the look of hatred in his eyes. The fact that he was here totally threw her off a little bit but his presence alone started to annoy her. "What are you doing here Hope?" She said in the coldest tone. The wound on his shoulder concerned her a lot and on instinct she nearly reached out and touched where the boy was hurt but decided against it. The days where Hope needed her help for every little thing was no longer. He'd matured so much from what it looks like and gained height to himself. He was now a head taller than she was. While happy to see that he's grown so much in her absence, Lightning still couldn't help but to see a little boy there.

"What do you think?" He said and folded his arms across his chest. His eyes were still narrowed and look as if they had narrowed more since Lightning could barely see his green hues. "Looking for you!. Amador told me that you quit so suddenly and just left. No one has seen you for four years. But I find you here, alive and well. The least you could have done was tell someone you were still alive!."

Lightning merely chuckled. A gesture that caught even Oraian's attention. Lightning never laughed at anything. What could have been so funny? The pinkette combed her fingers through the strands of pink on top of her head. That smirk that she had present on her face faded and fell back to a scowl. "I don't have to tell anyone of my whereabouts when I return I return. Where I am or what I'm doing is none of anyone's business."

"So that must include Serah as well huh?" The silver haired male stated simply. "You don't care whether she knows you're okay or not?"

Lightning's right eye twitched for a few seconds and her hand tightened into a fist. She was literally seconds away from wanting to just punch the boy in the face for saying such a thing. "How-"

"Yea you two I hate to break in between you guys wonderful reunion here but we have more important things that require our attention." The dual haired male stated as he looked off at the pinkette who was still as stone. His purple hues danced back to the silver haired male that was leaning against the wall beside him. "And you, I need your story. I'm going to assume you're not with the Remnants. But why were you seen fleeing from the Midgar ruins? And what makes your situation even worse is that you killed at least ten soldiers of the WRO."

"The who!?" Hope let out a sigh. He was truly in no mood for explaining himself nor did he feel like he had to. Not after the treatment he was put through prior to being in this cell. He was tired, sore, his head was hurting and his eyes were extremely heavy. On a normal day he would try to be a hard soldier and ignore all these issues but today was one of those days that he couldn't. He reached his limit and needed rest so he could get back up and have a fresh start. But it seemed that he had to go through the interrogation stage again before that happened. "Why? It's not like I'm going to be released am I? Seems my fate is set in stone since everyone thinks I'm guilty."

"That is where you are wrong," Oraian stated. "Which is why I am here. I need your statement so I can go back to Reeve, the head honcho of this organization and plead your case. You give me a good reason I can get you out of here. I would use the fact that you know Lightning as another way to save you, but it holds no weight. So can you cooperate with me for at least twenty minutes. It could save your life man."

The male nodded. He was grateful that someone was trying to help him out finally. He didn't want to be stuck here after all. "Alright,"

"Awesome." Oraian reached in his pocket and pulled out this cylinder shaped stick the length of a pencil. He clicked a button at the base on the object and it projected a 13 inch screen and a keyboard. "Okay you can start."

"Well.." He mumbled and began with explaining his story. "When I first arrived here I was approached by these strange dark, deformed dog looking creatures, right. They attacked me well not really, more like pinned me against the ground. When I tried to attack my weapon went clean through them like they were illusions. Then this man. This man in a white lab coat.

"A man in a white lab coat?" Oraian said and stopped his typing for just that moment. He and Lightning both looked up at Hope like something struck their attention. "What did he look like?"

"Uhm..well he had long grey-ish white hair pulled back in a low ponytail, and he wore glasses. His skin was almost grey-ish tan. Then this dark scowl he wore never changed."

"Hojo." Lightning stated and Oraian nodded in agreement. "Has to be."

"Hojo?" Hope blinked.

"We'll fill you in later on. Just finish your statement first."

"Right." Hope nodded and carried on. "But yes, the man then stabbe me with a needle. Don't get to asking me what it was cause I don't know. All I know is that it was clear."

"A sedative no doubt. Did you blackout afterwards?"

"Yea I did. Then when I awoke, I was in a tank of some gooey green substance." He went on to explain. He placed a hand against his head and began pacing back and forth slowly. "Don't know what that stuff was either. But then-"

Hope continued his side of what all occurred and how it lead up to him being where he was presently. When he finished he took his place back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Is that all?"

"Yes." Oraian said and clicked the button at the bottom of the stick. The laptop projection disappeared and he placed the stick back in his pocket. "I sent your statement to Reeve and I'll be headed over that way shortly to get a response from him."

"So can I go?" Hope asked wondering when he was going to leave this place.

Oraian looked at Lightning who looked back at Hope. She knew he was no one that meant no harm to anyone and if she could she would just let him walk. But with no full knowledge of anything because of her three year absence, she couldn't do anything. Oraian shook his head. "I hate to say it but no. With all the chaos that's been going on as of late, no one can be trusted. While I believe your word and would like to let you go free, my hands are tied at the moment until Reeve gives the word. I'm sorry."

"This is insane!. What type of system are you people running here!?" He turned his back to them and pressed both his hands against the metallic walls of the cell. While he understood the reasons for their suspicion, he still couldn't believe that they weren't going to let him go. At least with the new law system back on Pulse, it was innocent until proven guilty. "This is crazy.."

"I understand your frustration for I've fallen victim to the position you are currently in several times in the past. However, I can let you go but you'll be under monitored arrest. Meaning two soldiers will be with you twenty four seven and you'll have to wear handcuffs. It'll only be for the next twenty-four hours." Oraian explained.

"TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!?" Wow they really thought he was some type of threat. This was unbelievable. "And you have nothing to say about this? It's not like I'm here to stay or anything. I only came to find you and bring you back home!." He said directing his words to Lightning.

The woman shrugged. There was truly nothing she could do. In reality she really didn't want to do anything. Hope was a_ 'big boy'_ he didn't need her words of encouragement or support in anything. While back then when she first arrived here she worried and was concerned about how he was doing and if he was alright, and determined to get back to the boy and apologize to him, she didn't feel like it was needed anymore with the way he was acting towards her. While she shouldn't have expected anything less, she still couldn't accept the way he was talking to her. "What more is there to say?" She said acridly. "You don't need my help remember or my concern. So don't look to me for help. Another thing you should have stayed in Pulse, you coming here in attempt to take me back with you is pointless." The woman said and walked to the door of the cell. She knocked lightly and the guard on the other side opened it. "I'm not leaving until my mission here is complete." She said before walking from the cell.

"What? What mission what is she talking about?" He asked Oraian who only raised his hands in defeat. Hope slammed his fist against the wall and sighed.

Oraian placed a hand on the male's shoulder, a gesture to reassure him that everything was going to be alright. "Things will get better man, no joke. But until then, I strongly stress that you take me up on that offer of the monitored arrest. While it might sound terrible, compared to being in here, it's 100 times better. Believe me on that."

"Fine.." Hope said. Anything beat being in this cell like some caged bird.

"Great. Guards." He called. "Escort Hope here to the dispatch office I'll be down that way shortly." He said. "And don't do anything shady am I understood?"

"Sir!."

"Good." Oraian walked from the cell to the exit of the cell block. "Geez if it isn't one thing at another I swear!." He turned his attention down the hall upon seeing his pink haired comrade that wasn't too far away.

"Oh hey, Lightning!" Oraian called as he chased behind the pink haired woman but she didn't stop for any reason. "Light!." He called out to the woman once again. But still she didn't slow down. When he finally caught up to the woman he ran out in front of her, making her stop even if she didn't wish to. "Hey!."

"Tch." Lightning huffed and rolled her eyes. "What Oraian?" She said sounding a bit irritated.

"We're going to the-Oh wow.." He blinked in amazement and leaned close to the woman's face.

On instinct the woman moved back. She hated close contact. "What?"

"Your..eyes." He said slowly. "They resemble Sephiroth's.." They were no longer that fierce icy blue like they were before she dived into the life stream now they were that eerie Mako color. Only thing she lacked was the slit pupils."

"Big deal!." She said and pushed him aside. "You sound surprised. I'm not it's to be expected after where I've been for three years. Stop acting as if it's something new!."

"Right." But it was new and quite odd to him. "If you say so Light. Anyhow, we're going to Reeve. After we get done there, we're headed to the dispatch office to-"

"I'm not sticking around here to run errands Oraian. I'm here to do something and-"

"I know I know Light and I'm sorry that I'm taking you here and there but we have to get things situated first. After I see Reeve and get things squared away with Hope, we'll be going to the AVALANCHE base. There we'll catch up and discuss our next move. As much as I know you hate waiting. Can you just for a tad bit longer?

She huffed. It wasn't like she had much of a choice. Without him she didn't know where to start. So waiting around for him seemed to be the only thing she could do for now. No matter how much she hated it. But he'd better hurry up.

"..."

"Alright then!." He said, taking her silence as a _'yes'_ Oraian turned on his heel and started his way down the hallway of the headquarters, with Lightning tailing behind him. This place was extremely large in size. It was like two of the Shin-Ra Inc. buildings put together. On top of that it was extremely secure. Soldiers standing at every corner and at the end of every hallway or corridor, armed and ready in case anything were to take place.

Everything in here was made out of metal, from the building's foundation all the way to the floors. What few windows that lined the walls were framed in titanium.

Then there was the use of card keys and inferred light beams to determine ones identity. While Lightning found the procedure smart, it wasn't the most secure either. She remembered when one of her men had his identity card key stolen by one of the low ranking soldiers and they got access to the military's arsenal. Of course that didn't seem like enough of a red flag for the Sanctum instead of coming up with some new security design they just blew it off as nothing. But luckily no one had dared to try such an act again.

"Alright Light." The male said and turned to the woman next to him. "We're here." He pushed the button on the elevator and waited for the doors to open. He looked over at the woman who just stood with her arms crossed looking around at the facility and people who passed by. "Amazed?"

"What?" She said dryly, cutting her eyes in his direction. "No." She lied. Though she really was. Seeing all of this reminded her of her of the days when she was a soldier back in Cocoon. The days that she enjoyed the most, the days where she had nothing to really worry about but Serah. She missed those days.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened up. The pair stepped inside. The doors closed behind them, and Oraian pushed the button that would take them to the 20th floor.

Lightning leaned against the wall and folded her arms, her normal stance. While Oraian stood across from the woman just staring around. The pinkette just stared oddly at the male. It was weird, while she waited for the male to shoot off some type of remark anything, something sarcastic, he didn't. She remembered when she first met Oraian, and through their entire journey together the male was a total asshole. Well until they all agreed to destroy Shin-Ra. While she expected him to go back to his light-hearted and rebellious ways afterward, it appeared that he didn't and showed no signs that he was going to. Perhaps it was because Shin-Ra was gone and it was a new beginning for everyone. Whatever the case was, she was kind of liking the new Oraian, but missed the old one, a little.

"Terrorist.." She said just for the hell of it.

"Hm.." He hummed and looked at the woman. He smirked and laughed a little at the name. It had been a long time since anyone had called him by that name. Only because his friends never referred to him as that. Only Lightning, Xayne, and affiliates of Shin-Ra Inc. did. "Don't let my new demeanor fool you. I can switch back to the old Oraian in just seconds." He said in a cocky tone. "You miss that side of me?"

"Oh please.." The woman huffed. "Don't flatter yourself."

He stuck his tongue out. "Bleh.."

The elevator stopped and the ding sounded. The doors opened and the duo walked out. Oraian turned to the woman with a bright grin on his face. Scratching the back of his head he let out a small laugh. "At least you didn't change. I'm glad to have the same stoic woman from before!."

"Whatever.." The woman said as they arrived in front of Reeve office.

**Edge City: AVALANCHE Base- 22:10pm**

"Yo Light! Long time no see!" Zack shouted and threw his arm around the woman's shoulder. "Oraian here had told me that he'd found you but none of us fully believed him. He'd been going on and on for the past few years about you and Xayne not being dead. But wow was he right!."

Lightning shrugged the man's arm from her shoulder and pushed him away. In return he laughed and sat back on the small couch beside the door.

All the other AVALANCHE members looked at the woman like they were seeing a ghost. It was a shock to them all. No one had ever fallen into the life stream for as long as she was and survived. There was no way possible that this woman was alive. And suffered from no type of deformity or aftershock? To them she was a walking contradiction.

She could feel that all eyes were on her at this moment but chose to pay no attention to it. She took her spot against the wall and acted as if all was normal. Well in her eyes everything was.

"In!." A soldier spoke and a boy with silver hair came stumbling in. Hope. The male huffed and reluctantly walked into the base. He sat down on top of metal oil keg. The two soldiers stood at the door.

After tying everything up with Reeve and signing papers to release Hope, the three traveled to the AVALANCHE base on the west side of town. Instead of having to be guarded by two soldiers Reeve allowed Lightning to keep an eye on Hope.

"This isn't fair! Hope complained. He shot a cold gaze at Lightning who shot one much more intimidating at him. He tore his eyes away from her and huffed. He was never able to win the staring game with that woman.

"You men can leave." Lightning stated simply. "Hope will not be making any type of moves under my watch." She informed the men.

The soldiers nodded and left. Seconds later Oraian walked in. "Alright everyone now-" the male stopped at the door and looked at everyone awkwardly. It was so quiet that you'd be able to hear a mouse piss on the floor. "Uhm, why's everyone staring at Lightning like she has two heads?" He asked and walked to the woman's side. He placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke. "Yea it's unbelievable I know. But this is her." He crossed his arms and gave his head a firm nod. "Now instead of staring at her, how about we give her a welcome back!."

There was a long silence and the members mumbled amongst themselves before coming to a conclusion. They nodded and all gave her a nice warm welcome back. Of course Lightning didn't much care for it though.

"Lastly," Oraian said and moved from his spot next to Lightning. He walked towards the door where Hope was sitting and grabbed the man by the shoulder.

"Hey let go of me!." Hope shouted before he was pushed to center floor. All the members of AVALANCHE gathered around the silver haired male except for Lightning and Tifa.

"This here is Hope." Oraian started. "Hope here is claimed to be part of the Remnants. He was seen fleeing Midgar when the attack upon Edge occurred. However, judging by his history of knowing Lightning, whether he is or not, is unknown." He finished.

"A Remnant huh!." Barrett pushed through the AVALANCHE members and stopped directly in Hope's face. The male had dark skin and a rather large build. His hair was braided back on corn rows and he wore a mean scowl. What pulled Hope's attention the most was that his whole left arm and hand was metal. "Remnants ain't welcome here. You know what we do to Remnants?" The male rose the metal arm from his side and it started to take on a different shape. A gun? Barret placed is weapon arm directly on his face. "We blast em!" He said clicking his gun. But Hope showed no sign of fear.

"Barret." Lightning called out calmly. "No interrogating my prisoner. He's had enough of that for one day I believe. Nor is he a Remnant. Leave him be."

Barret huffed and lowered his gun arm from the male's face. "You're lucky this time." He said and walked back to his place at a table. Everyone else disbanded and went back to whatever it was they were doing before.

Hope stayed at center floor and glared at Lightning who was paying him no attention. He made his way to the woman and stopped directly in front of her. Lightning still made no signs that she cared about his presence. "Your prisoner! So you find this amusing!?"

"..."

"Grrr!" He looked down at his shackled hands and stomped his foot against the floor. "What's the purpose of you being here Lightning, can you at least give me that one piece of information!? If it's nothing then why are you even here!?"

"Alright everyone." Oraian started.

"I have nothing to tell you." Lightning said and pushed off the wall to go join the other AVALANCHE members. She didn't wish to but Hope was irking her.

"Typical Lightning.." Hope mumbled. He had the feeling he would be sticking around this place longer than he liked. He sighed and looked over at his hurt shoulder again. It was no longer bleeding but it was hurting like hell. He sat down and listened in on what Oraian was saying.

"Alright so I heard from Reeve that the attack was taken care of and the WRO warded off the Remnants for now." They all nodded their heads. "But still no signs of Sephiroth.."

"While that is true, we believe that the remnants have a direct connection to him." Cloud stated.

Oraian nodded. "Yea, but until something else comes up we can't be entirely sure. Only way to find out is if someone goes in and checks."

All the members looked around at one another and shrugged. "Alright then who's gonna go?" Zack asked.

"Easy." Oraian stated. "The Espionage master, Yuffie."

"Sorry guys. As much as I would love to be the one up for the job, I can't Reeve called for me and needs me over at the headquarters." The dark haired girl stated. "Sorry."

"Great."

"Well it's not like any one of us can't go. It may come out to be messy since were not as slick and keen as Yuffie but we'll get what we're after nonetheless." Zack stated.

"True but we want to avoid messiness. We don't need that!."

"Then how about silver hair over there!." Barret called out referring to Hope.

"What!?" Hope called out. "No way. Why would I help any of you?"

"Because you're the suspicious one around here!." Barret started. "You say you're not a Remnant then prove it. Infiltrate their base and come back with the information we need."

This was so stupid. Not only was he being watched like a criminal and being treated like one, but now he was being used as a guinea pig. It's not that he wasn't confident that he would succeed in the infiltration but it wasn't serving any purpose for him. Only these guys. But if this was a way to get him out of this mess he's in, then- "Fine!." He sighed. "What do I need to do?"

Oraian explained to Hope the mission plan and what needed to be done. "After all of that you return here."

"Right." Hope said unenthusiastically. "So when can I get this over with?"

"Now. I'm going to send Zack with you to aid you on the mission."

"I don't need any help I can do it on my own. He'll just get in my way. It's simple even a rookie could do it." He stated dryly. "Anyhow," He turned to Lightning and held out his wrists. "I can't complete this mission with my wrists in shackles you know. It would be nice for you to release me."

"Tch." Lightning rolled her eyes before reaching in a pouch on her waist and pulled out the key. With it she unlocked the shackles binding his arms. The metal objects fell against the floor clanking against the ground as they did.

"My weapon?" He said while massaging his wrists. The shackles had left a deep red mark around them.

"It's in the Humvee outside." Oraian stated. "You need assistance you never know what's going to happen."

"Right whatever." He said. Then walked for the door.

"Alright guys!." Zack said in an upbeat tone. "I'll see you all when we return."

"Be mindful Zack, this is a serious mission."

"I'm always serious. I'll catch you guys later!." He said and ran out behind Hope.

After the two departed, Oraian turned to Lightning. "Now that we got that all squared away, let's get back to our main mission at hand here. The Bhunivelze Materia. For starters, where is it?"

Lightning shrugged. She couldn't even answer that and it irritated her. Last thing she remembered is Xayne going after it when he had spotted it. Anything after that she didn't know. Weather or not Xayne obtained it was unknown. "I'm unsure. If anything Xayne has it. Where ever he is.."

"Dammit so what is this Operation find Xayne?"

"Seems like it. But it'll only be a dummy mission since we have no idea where to truly start." Lightning explained.

"True.." Oraian said and placed his finger under his chin. "But no worries alright. Lucky for us I came up with a new handy dandy device recently!." He said then ran over to a metal door on the far side of the base.

Lightning rolled her eyes and followed behind the male. "And what exactly do you call this _handy dandy _device of yours?" She asked though she wasn't truly interested she asked only to mock the individual. Much to her dismay he thought she was serious and went on to explain.

The dual color haired individual punched in a code number on a key pad and the metal doors slowly opened. "It's called the Materia Oscillator." He started and walked through the opening doors, Lightning just behind him. "I've been doing a lot of research lately which is how I came up with the device in the first place. But I won't go into too much detail about it since it might bore you. So I'll just show you what it does." After walking down a long corridor, the duo came to another large door. Oraian swiped his ID card in the keycard lock and the door slid open.

As the door opened they walked in. Weapons of all types could be seen lining the walls in glass casing. They were sorted from guns, swords, bows, RPGs, and even weapons belonging to the AVALANCHE members were in here. Lightning figured this to be their weapons arsenal.

"Ah here it is!" Oraian said and walked off to the side wall containing compound bows and arrows. He grabbed the device off the wall and held it out to Lightning. The device was slim and flat with rounded edges. It was big enough to fit in the palm of the hand and fit well within the pocket.

Oraian tapped the screen and what popped up was some weird color spectrum at the center, with a compass and a cog wheel in the top corner. In the bottom left was a series of numbers."Alright."

"And this does what?" Lightning asked

"It tracks Materia." He stated simply. "I would go through all the scientific stuff and how it's capable of doing such a thing but as I've stated before, I don't want to bore you to deaf so I'll show you." He clicked some options that popped up on the screen then a projection of a map popped up from the screen. "Here were are!." He pointed to each of the red dots on the screen. "Alright so, these are areas where Materia is located. I chose Midgar since this was the last place we were when we lost it. As you can see, even though it's in ruins, there is a hefty amount of Materia still there. More than likely it's buried though."

"Okay so we have to go on an excavation to find it?"

Oraian shook his head. "Well yea. But with this device it tells you what type of Materia it is. And all the ones in the Midgar area are elemental. But earlier, the device picked up on the summoning Materia, which drew me to believe you had it when I found you. But now, it's no longer showing up on the map at all. At least not in the Midgar area."

"Great, so I guess your _handy dandy_ device doesn't really come in handy after all." Lightning said coldly.

"For the time being, you're right. We just have to search on our own. Can't always depend on technology you know."

"Nice excuse.."

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, I say we wait until Hope and Zack to return before we do anything. They just might come back with some helpful information. In the meantime, we wait."

Wait. That was something Lightning was always terrible at. "Yea, whatever." She said and walked towards the exit. While they wait, she was going to do some walking around and observing herself to see what she was able to come across. "You guys sit around and wait, I'm going to take a walk through town."

"Alright Light."

Lightning traveled through town passing by many even though it was late in the evening. The sky was dark with puffy black patches floating across it. Flashes of lightning and low rumbling thunder made themselves known every so often.

For a city that had just been constructed not to long ago, the population was outstanding. She didn't remember Pulse being this populated in its first few year. Yea there were a lot of people but not that many.

'Pulse..'

Her mind wandered back to before she'd left there. It was barely anything. Only place they had constructed was New Bodum and the military forces were starting on the construction of New Palumpolum before she had left. She wondered what it was like now. How were the people living and how they were coping. How was life without aid from a Fal'cie? She bet most that were so dependent on the beings had a hard time getting used to the new lifestyle. Others who weren't, probably found the process much easier.

Then there was Serah, her sister. Lightning bit down on the inside of her cheek as she remembered how she treated Serah before she left. So caught up in trying to figure out a way to bring back Fang and Vanille, she had once again put the bond between her and her sister on hold. She was still doing it.

'_So I guess that includes Serah as well huh? You don't care if she knows your alive or not?'_

Hope's words echoed in her mind and all she could think about is how right he was. She didn't even bother to ask about how her sister was doing or weather she was okay or not. What type of person was she? A selfish, heartless one apparently. Look what she did to her sister the whole time when she was supposed to be helping with the reconstruction of Bodum.

'_You ignored her and everyone else around you_..'

Yea the guilt was definitely settling in now. But it was only a matter of time before it would. Putting it all off until now she's surprised that she hasn't gone insane yet.

Lightning exited the City of Edge which put her out on the wise open plains of Gaia. She still couldn't get over how this place had such an uncanny resemblance to Pulse. The thunder rumbled louder in the sky and the flashes of lightning had become much brighter, the storm that was surrounding this place was rolling in. It wasn't long before the rain came in and started pouring down from the sky. This didn't bother the woman for she continued traveling across the plain.

She had to hurry up and get this over with. The faster she gets done with this mission the faster she could get home and make a mends with her sister and maybe, just maybe Hope. Since the male got here he's been nothing but an annoyance to her.

'_I came here to bring you back!.'_

Like she cared. He left those years ago and didn't give a care about her feelings then. He wanted nothing to do with her after their fallout. Now all of a sudden he was concerned about where she's been. "Tch!" Lightning rolled her eye and shook her head. She didn't even know why she was wasting her time thinking about Hope. She didn't care.

"Well well!"

Lighting stopped and quickly reached behind her out of instinct. "Dammit." She mumbled. She had forgotten that she no longer had Blaze Edge. Nor did she have any weapon on her at all. The woman looked over her shoulder before fully turning her figure to face where the voice had called from.

"Light." It was a male. He wore grey baggy pants with glowing blue lines running down the center of each. Covering his torso was black sleeveless shirt that fit tight to his skin with the same glowing blew line pattern. His skin was very pale with some silver fluid running through two bulging veins in both his arms. And his hair was black and deshelved. "We've been looking for you." He said though he was the only one present.

"We?" She just had to ask. The moment that one work left her lips two men showed up at his side. One with silver hair that stopped just at the base of his neck, and the other with silver hair came over his shoulders. The both of them had those glowing Mako eyes. "Who the hell are you..?"

"Don't worry about that right now," The dark haired male said. Two blades that came from nothing appeared within both his hands. The short silver haired male drew his weapon which looked to be some doubled bladed katana and the other had a weird looking sword. "You'll find out soon enough!." Upon that being said the three charged in her direction ready for attack.


	5. We Are Remnants

**Chapter 5: We Are Remnants**

The motions were so fast Lightning nearly had little to no time to react. Really she was still in no condition to do any type of fighting since she was still recovering from her wounds that she had awaken with. But that wasn't going to stop her. Had it not been for her natural instinct to evade by dashing to the left, she could have been struck by the blade of the ebony haired individual. Now positioned in the back of him, she was still open to be attacked. The other, the long silver haired guy was coming at her. The man swung for her side but she quickly jumped back and moved to the side.

"Ahhhh!"

The pinkette quickly snapped her head up. The bright flash of lightning nearly blinding her vision, she almost missed seeing the short silver haired guy. Lightning was just seconds away from his attack nearly connecting. Had he been quiet instead of letting out that loud obnoxious _'aaah'_ when he prepared his attack, he probably would have gotten her. "Not quite." Lightning mumbled as she extended her arm out, she caught the blade within her gloved hand. The action cut through the leather of the glove, injuring the woman's hand. A steam of blood spiraled down the length of her arm but she stopped the weapon nonetheless. With her other hand she quickly grabbed him up by the collar of his black leather coat and tossed him with ease into his long haired comrade.

Lightning dashed back and performed a couple of backflips to gain distance from her enemies. Landing gracefully at her full height, she stood in a defensive posture and waited. Watching as two of her three enemies, the silver haired ones, were picking themselves up off the ground. The other, the black haired one, she locked eyes with his silver ones briefly, before he vanished into particles of black dust and appeared a few feet away from the woman, brining his sword over his shoulder in an arch.

Lightning jumped back and leapt into the air, causing his initial attack to miss. The pinkette waved her arm through the air as a surge of electrical blue energy gathered around her arm. From that came a bolt of energy that struck down on the male. She wasn't an avid Materia user since she was never to fond of it but at this moment it actually came in handy.

The male's body bounced back a few feet and slid across the muddy surface.

"That's it!" The short silver haired male said, raising his hand up over his head, a black cloud of dust formed, throwing it forward, the dust expanded into three separate bands of darkness and transformed into dark beast like creatures. The monsters dashed off at the pink haired woman for attack.

Lightning kept her position and prepared another attack with the Materia only this time in both hands. She held both hands at her sides with the power of the condensed Mako running threw them. The creature on the left jumped first. A roar and vicious growl followed. Light thrust her arm forward and like earlier with the ebony haired male, a bolt if Lightning zig-zagged down from the sky and struck the creature at the center if it's spine. Next was the one on the right, an she repeated the same action to receive the same results. Now was the center one who leapt much sooner than the others. Flying towards the pinkette, the woman back flipped but did a front flip just seconds after when the creature landed upon the ground.

What Lightning didn't notice was that the silver haired individual with long hair was coming in for an attack, while she was focused on destroying the creature.

With the creature looking around dumbly, Lightning's front flip ended with her coming down directly on the creature's head, crushing its skull.

_BANG!_

Lightning grunted and clasped her hand around her side. The loud sound bellowed over the wide open plain. The woman swiftly turned around to see the long haired guy standing in front of her with a smirk. In his hand he had that sword pointed at her, well at least it looked like a sword. The end of it was emitting smoke like a bullet had been shot from it. "Gotcha sister!." He said in a manner that sounded like he was playing some childish game of tag. And...sister?

The man clicked the trigger again and a loud bang sounded again, only this time Lightning was quick about her movements. She parried to the right as we performed three back flips to gain distance from the man. "I'm not your sister!." She commented coldly.

"Yazoo!." The dark haired male called to him. "That's enough."

The male called. Yazoo smirked at Lightning before vanishing into that dark dust and appearing at the sides of the other two.

"Dammit!" This wasn't like her she'd usually be able to take anyone down without a problem. Ever since she's gotten here to this particular place, her skills and abilities had dropped dramatically. Though her side was throbbing with pain and her hand was drenched in her own blood, she still had the strength to keep a straight face. "Who the..who the hell are you?"

The ebony haired one at the center chuckled darkly and stepped forth. "Equis." He said with a malice smile. "Equis the Silver. And these two here are my brothers Yazoo and Kadaj."

"Do you not recognize us sister?" Yazoo spoke. "We are the _Remnants_."

_'The hell..?'_

"I'm not your damn sister!." Lightning growled out for a second time. So these were the famous Remnants that everyone at the WRO were referring too. It's no wonder Hope was mistaken for one of these guys. They all have silver hair, except for the one in the middle.

"How saddening, she's denying that we're all related to one another." Yazoo said nonchalantly.

"No worries brother she'll come around eventually. Until then, we'll be around." The one called Equis stated. "Let's go brothers." The men broke up into dust and disappeared into the air.

Lightning growled out of frustration and huffed a sigh. She didn't understand what just occurred or why it occurred. Nor did she know who they were. And why the hell they were calling her sister. She had no blood relation to either of those men. What the hell was that? Lightning gasped quietly as a pain shot across her side. Remembering the wound there she started back to town. She had over did it already with engaging in a fight with these guys from the start who knows what it probably did to her other wounds. While she wasn't one to fuss over cuts and bruises she knew that they had to be taken care of.

She grunted again bit this time the pain was shooting in her arm an area she wasn't struck in but she blew it off, thinking that it was possibly irritated nerves there. To take her mind off of the searing pain in her body, Light's mind drifted back to the three men that she fought. She had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last encounter that she had with them and would be much more prepared next time around.

_'Sister..'_

**Midgar Ruins- 23:30pm**

"This is just great!" Hope mumbled becoming angry at the weather conditions. The rain was obscuring everything and what made matters worse is that the lightning often struck the pieces of metal debris lying around the ruins.

"Can't believe I'm actually following through with this crap!" Hope mumbled to himself as he and Zack traveled through ruins of the run down city. He hoped that he would never have to come back to this horrid location again. After witnessing the work Hojo did on that project, the last place he wanted to be was here! Who knew what other creatures were within this place.

"Heeeeeey buddy!." Zack said in his usual upbeat mood. What he didn't know is that his cheerful disposition was irritating Hope. How was it that so wine could be so carefree in such a serious situation? Zack threw his arm around the platinum haired male's shoulder and flashed him a nice bright smile. "Why so uptight?"

_'What!?'_

Hope couldn't believe this guy was asking that type of question. Why else would he be. Unlike this guy he took his missions seriously. They had to be executed correctly for a successful accomplishment. "Uhm, what do you mean?" Hope asked as his paces came to a stop. He turned his head to the side where the ebony haired male was standing. Hope suddenly frowned and narrowed his eyebrows. "It's a mission why else would I be serious? Someone has to be anyway." His eyes narrowed and an eyebrow rose. "Since that someone isn't you it appears." He said and picked up his feet to start walking again.

"Ah-whaaaat!?" Zack was taken aback by the other's words and quickly ran to his side. "I can be serious. I just don't think too much seriousness is needed. What's wrong with a little laughs and jokes here and there ya know? You can joke and still be focused." He stated and tucked his arms behind his head. "Being too serious is cautious. Cause you're just waiting for something to happen."

"Of course." Hope said and rolled his eyes. "That way you'll be prepared if something does happen. What are you getting at?"

"You're a caution to yourself if you're so uptight all the time.."

"What in the-?" Hope slapped his forehead. This guy sounded like he was just talking in circles. "Yea, alright Zack. Got ya, crystal clear." He lied just to get him to shut up.

Zack nodded. "Cool."

"Anyway, I have a question for you?" Hope stated as he pulled his weapon from his sheathe and looked it over. He remembered the first day he received this. It was the best day of his life, the day he became a Sargent.

"Shoot."

Hope nodded his head slowly before returning the weapon to its place on his back. "What do you know about Lightning? Like, why's she sticking around here?"

"Hmm.." Zack hummed, dropping his hands from the back of his head and letting them swing back and forth at his sides. "Well the first time I met Lightning was three years ago, all I know is that her, Oraian and Xayne were seeking out this special Materia. What for?" He shrugged I'm not sure. However I do remember her mentioning something about her two friends and something about them being crystalized." He went on to explain.

"Ah!." He stopped quickly which kind of startled Zack. _"Crystalized!?"_ He said heavily emphasizing the word. So that's what this was about. Lightning's long disappearance was because of that. "Oh." He placed one hand under his chin and the other on his hip. Now things were making sense. But she still could have at least told someone something. If no one else, Serah. But why here?

"Hey, you alright there man?"

"Oh!" Hope said, snapping from his thoughts. "Yea, I'm fine. So who's this Xayne guy? Where is-"

Hope stopped in the middle of his sentence and quickly drew his gun blade. Ducking down behind a tree, he pulled Zack along with him. He didn't know if Zack heard it but he could here the sound of footsteps approaching from the east.

"What's up man!?"

"Shhh." Hope said hushing the male.

Appearing from particles of what looked to be black dust, came three figure. One of them in which Hope recognized.

"It's that project!." He whispered to Zack. "He's the one I had an altercation with before I escaped to Edge!."

"You know, Hojo isn't going to be too please with us coming back empty handed.." Yazoo said to the ebony haired male who appeared to be ignoring him.

"Who cares!. Hojo's not the boss of me. We'll get her soon. I'm just in the mood to play with her for a little bit."

"We have no time for antics Equis. This is important!."

"Yea yea, don't worry I got this!." He reached down in his pocket and pulled out a light blue glowing orb. "She's looking for this..so we'll see her again."

"What is that?" Hope asked whispering to Zack.

"It's the Materia!." Zack responded. "The one Light and Oraian were talking about!."

"Then how did they get it?" Hope asked, though he wasn't looking for an answer. It was a thought that he spoke out loud.

"Yea well you need to get serious already we don't have much time Hojo said-"

"I know what Hojo said!." Equis barked back. "Look, we'll just lay low for a bit let them think that we aren't up to anything then when they least expect it, we attack but knowing Lightning, she may come to us."

"If you say so Equis. but we should head back to Hojo and give him the report at least." Yazoo suggested. "Since we aren't doing it his way after all."

"Yea well you two go running back to him, I'm not!. I got my own plans!." With that, Equis dashed off quicker than lightning in the opposite direction of his comrades. The other two did the exact same thing.

Zack and Hope popped up from their hiding place and stepped back out into the open. "What could that have been all about?" Hope asked, looking over at his ebony haired ally.

Zack shrugged and shook his head. "No idea man, but sounds like they're in cahoots with Hojo that's for sure. I bet if we follow them we'll get more information on whatever it is that they're up to. But they're also after Lightning. What's up with that?"

"You're asking me..?" Hope responded. "There is only one way to find out. Head over to Hojo's secret location and go from there." He said and punched his fist against the palm of his hand. He wasn't for this little mission at first but things were getting more and more interesting by the minute. "Zack, let's get moving."

"What exactly are you working on over there Oraian?" Tifa asked and walked up behind the male to look over his shoulder.

"The Oscillator started bugging up for some reason so now I'm trying to work out the glitches."

"Your toys are always going on the fritz maybe it's not your calling. Perhaps you should stick to what you know best; infiltration." Cloud said in a bored tone though his remark was meant to sound sarcastic.

"Yea well why don't you come over here and invent something then. See how far you get. It's something called trial and error. And they're not toys!." He said feeling slightly offended that his ally thought of his inventions as such. "Don't forget that half the weapons you guys have were created by myself you know. Those haven't bugged up or anything now have they!?"

"Nope not at all!." Barret spoke. "My new gun works well, as a hand and a weapon. A fool come messin' with me they'll be blasted!."

"See there Cloud." Oraian said with a bright smile.

"I didn't mean it literally you know." Cloud said and turned away.

"Yea, yea." Oraian mumbled and went back to fixing his device.

The door to the base slid open but none of the members paid it any attention. People ran in and out on the regular so they thought that it was just a comrade. Which it was but an injured comrade.

Oraian looked up for a brief second but looked back to his device. Quickly he glanced back up when he seen Lightning, but not in the same condition she left in. "Woah Light!?" He shot up from his chair, jumped over the table and sprinted to his friend's aid. His outburst caught the attention of the other members and they also ran over to see what was happening. "What happened?" Oraian asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine I just got into a bad altercation don't worry." She said in a strained voice,trying to appear as if she were alright but Oraian knew otherwise. "Tifa get the med-kit and meet me in the infirmary."

"I'm fine Oraian I can take care of my own wounds." She stubbornly suggested.

"Yea, yea." He threw her arm over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around her side. "But I'm helping you anyway." He said and started walking with her towards the infirmary area.

Lightning hated this. She remembered the last time this happened with Xayne. She was just grateful that Hope wasn't present at this moment. It would have made this experience much more embarrassing than it already was.

"What the hell happened?" He asked and laid the woman down on the bed, but Lightning only sat back up.

"I ran into The Remnants."

His eyes grew wide. "Th-they were here!?"

"No, just outside of Edge is where I encountered them. They kind of caught me off guard is all."

"Here you go Oraian." Tifa said and handed him medical kit before leaving.

"So," he laid the kit down on the table and opened it. "Did they say anything? What did they want?"

Lightning shook her head. "I don't know honestly. Their motive was pretty unclear. What's even stranger is that they knew who I was."

"Yea that is a little odd. But what matters is that you're okay and not dead!."

Lightning gasped and grabbed her right arm like she did earlier. That pain again. Yet she wasn't struck there. She grit her teeth and then shook it off. "Yea I suppose you're right, but next time they're gonna be the dead ones."

_'Sister..'_

Why did they call her that? That question was still lingering on her mind as well as irritating her. "I'm not you sister.." She said absently.

"Huh..?" Oraian hummed, turning around with a roll of bandages in his hand. "Say something?"

"Agh," she shook her head. "No it's nothing, I just need some sleep.."

_'Who are they..?'_ She thought to herself.

"Alright then, well you can get all the rest you need when I'm done bandaging you up." Oraian said more joyfully than he wished too.

"Uh-huh..?" Lightning said raising her eyebrow at the dual color haired male. "No," she reached out her arm, gesturing for him to hand the bandages and med kit over to her. "I can do it myself. I've done it several times before. I won't have a problem now."

He frowned. "I just want to help out a friend." He said, making his eyes grow unusually large.

Growing irritated, Lightning snatched the med kit along with the bandages, from his hands and glared at him. "No, you just want to see me naked again. Now if you don't want me to kill you for having dirty thoughts, I suggest you, get out!."

"Whaaaaat? No way Light. What makes you think that I, Oraian Eclipse is a pervert? It is as I've stated before, I just want to help-" he glanced back over at the pink haired woman who's glare was cold enough to possibly cause death. "O-okay.." He felt a chill down his spine before he was able to move. "I'll just...yea if you need anything just give me a call!." The male said quickly and zipped out of the infirmary room.

The woman sighed out and started removing her clothes to care for her wounds.

_'Sister..'_

"Dammit!" Why was she letting that one word get under her skin so much. Could it be because these guys were bad news? She shook her head. No, she hated when non-family referred to her as that. Look what she used to do to Snow every time he called her that.

_'Sister..'_

"Grr.." The word was going to irritate her until she got to the bottom of why they were referring to her as that. But in the mean time, she couldn't allow it to be her prime focus. Her and Oraian had to find that Materia before anything, and Xayne.

_'Xayne..'_

_'I-I can't lose you Light...I'm going with you!.'_

That idiot. He knew that he'd never been exposed to any form of the life stream, yet he dived right into what could have probably been his death. Lightning never understood Xayne at times and this was one of those times. Now he's lost. But he wasn't dead. She strongly believed that. But where in Gaia was he..?

Looking down at her side after removing the top part of her clothing, the gunshot wound was visible and leaking a heavy amount of blood. Between the wound on her hand and this one, she was still shocked that she had not fainted from blood loss yet. However she was feeling a bit dizzy.

After cleaning it up and removing the bullet, she wrapped it up tightly and did the exact same thing for the gash on her left hand.

"Ah-agh!" The pinkette clasped her hand around her right arm after feeling another shock of pain there. "The hell!?" This was the third time in the past hour that it's happened. But-

"No.." Lightning whispered to herself. It couldn't be. She pulled away the bracer on her arm then rolled back her sleeve and-

**Midgar Ruins- Hojo's Hideout. 23:50pm**

"Wow this was a smashing success!." Zack responded as he shoved the body of one of the scientists off into a corner. He and Hope came to the agreement that they would disguise themselves as one of Hojo's lab men in order get information.

Hope adjusted the white lab coat over his shoulders, and pushed the glasses on his face that he stole from the dead lab man in the corner. "Don't get too excited now Zack. We're not done yet." He passed the male a clip board to go along with the rest of his disguise. "Remember go with the plan alright. The faster we get this done, the faster we can get out of here. Got it..?"

"Got it!."

Hope lets out a sigh, hoping that everything would go as they planned and they wouldn't end up getting busted. The duo walked through the lab doors and branched off into two different directions. Hope left, and Zack right. As they both expected, The Remnants were there. Well two of them at least. The one that want by the name Equis, was not present. Hope and Zack listened in while pretending to busy themselves around the lab.

"Tell me that the three of you accomplished you mission so we can move on to the next step of our procedure." Hojo said dully. He was busy with some other experimentation so he didn't bother to look at his minions.

"Patience Hojo," Kadaj spoke. "While we weren't successful in the mission, our dear brother Equis has another plan." The male said with a small evil chuckle at the end of his words.

"And what might that be? Had the three of you just went with the initial, another plan wouldn't have to be put into action!." Hojo spat out to the Remnants. "What the three of you fail to understand is that there is no time for mistakes. Not even the smallest ones!. So-"

So far nothing, if anything they were talking around the subject rather than directly addressing it. The silver haired male grumbled quietly and lightly slammed his fist against the lab table. This all seemed like it was a waste of time and effort if they were going end up coming out with absolutely nothing. "Hmm..?" Emerald eyes peered down at a stack of cream colored folders that had other documents scattered on top of it. Hope carefully pulled one of the folders out. There was a large stamp marking on the front that read unsuccessful. "What the?" He flipped open the file and started skimming through it. At the top right hand corner there was a headshot of a male. "Genesis Rhapsodos?" He read out loud from the information in the document. "Hmm.." He placed that file down on the table and pulled another one from the stack. The file was just like the previous one he had but it was a different person this time and he recognized him. "Oraian?" He had to laugh a little at this discovery. Here this guy was poking at him and thinking e was suspicious, and he was actually one of Hojo's experiments. And a failed one too. He tucked the file away in the lab coat figuring it would be a good idea to take along just for jokes.

While the remnants and Hojo continued chattering on about nothing pertaining to the main topic at hand, Hope pulled out another file. But this one was different. It was in a charcoal colored folder and had a green stamp on the front of it that read; successful. The folder was also thicker than the last two.

"Huh?" Flipping through the stack of papers he discovered a silver haired male with green eyes, some other male he didn't recognize and finally, "Lightning!?" He exclaimed lowly. She was an experiment?

"No worries Hojo, we know that what Equis has in store is surely to work." Kadaj went on to explain. The male walked over to the small table that had a small see-through box on top of it. Inside was an obsidian orb. Kadaj looked over the dark object before flashing a flagitious smile. He was imagining how perfect their plan would unfold. "Then with the resurrection of Mother, and waking the sleeping god Bhunivelze, we will be unstoppable. And this planet and it's life source will be ours to control!."

_'What..?'_ Both Hope and Zack made eye contact with one another from across the room. They both had heard the same thing and it wasn't anything good either. While Hope knew Zack had an idea of what they were talking about, he didn't, which kind of left him in the dark with a lot of questions.

_'Who was mother?'_

"Yes but the three of you must complete task one before starting with the next!. Bring back the vessel, bring me _Project L_!." The angry scientist grumbled.

"And we will Hojo." Yazoo said calmly.

Hope nodded at Zack giving him the okay to start heading out. Zack agreed and he left out first. Hope trailed five minutes after him. The two disposed of their disguise and started power walking to towards the exit of the hideout. There was a long silence between the two for they were both somewhat worried after gaining knowledge of a plan that could end up being the planet's doomsday.

"So," Hope stared slowly. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on here but who's Mother? And that dark orb, what was that?"

Zack didn't answer. He had to much going on in his head to come out with a clear answer for his silver haired comrade. "I..just ask Oraian when we get back to the base."

_'I created you..'_

_Hojo's voice echoed in her ears loud and clear. So clear she almost believed he was right there next to her."What..?" Lightning opened her eyes and sat up. "Huh, how'd I end up here?" Last thing she remembered was being in the infirmary. Now she was in some cold and damp location that barely had enough light to make out where she was. The little bit of light was the glowing of some rocks that looked to have been exposed to Mako along with thin luminescent bands of it floating around in the air.'Where-?'_

_"Arrrgh!" A quick visual of something flashed across Lightning's eyes causing the pinkette to cry out in pain and place a hand up over her left eye. The vision happened so quickly Lightning barely had the chance truly see what it was. All she seen was white hair and one glowing red eye... "The hell was that..?"_

_'Lightning...'_

_Said woman quickly whirled around upon hearing her name being called out. At first glance she seen nothing, until a dim glow some feet away from her made itself visible. Lightning took on her battle stance and like before, reached for a weapon that wasn't there. She cursed herself for forgetting that fact but kept her position. The light grew progressively brighter but that wasn't all that stepped from the shadows."Xayne!"_

_The male smirked but said nothing, he only shook his head. Taking a few more steps towards Lightning, he held out his left hand that contained a blue-ish white glowing orb, the Bhunivelze Materia and placed it in the woman's hand. He nodded his head and stepped back. A look of worry grew across his face. "Li-gh-t.." He said slowly as if it were a struggle for him to speak words. "B-b-b-b-b-"_

_"What is it Xayne?" Lightning could tell he was trying to tell her something but she couldn't quite make out what it was since he was stuttering. "Xayne?" Lightning stepped closer to her brunette comrade, but that action bought on a force, a strong one that nearly snatched Xayne away but the pinkette quickly grabbed his arm just before that male's hand gripped onto Lightning's wrist but with little effort. The force was still pulling him back and the grip Light had on him was quickly slipping._

_"B-b-be care-car-caref-ful..L-light.." With those last words, the force snatched the male from the woman's grasp and into the darkness._

_"Xayne!." Lightning quickly dashed off into the abyss of nothingness and found just that, nothing. "Xayne!." She called out again only to hear her voice echo in the darkness around her. "Xay-" The woman's body clashed with something in the dark and she fell back onto the ground. "What the- Arrgh!."Light quickly bought a hand up over her eye once again as pain made itself present there again._

_The same vision came to her but this time around it wasn't just that strange alien like face she saw, she seen that Equis guy as well. "Arrgh!"A bright flash illuminated the dark area for a brief moment, revealing to Lightning, a being made of metal? The thing she bumped into. A flash of red came from the sockets where the eyes would be before everything faded back to black. "What the hell's going on..."_

_'I created you...'_

_"Screw you Hojo.."_

_'...for a purpose..'_

**-xxxxxx-**

**AVALANCHE Base- 00:31pm**

"We're back!." Zack called out as he and Hope entered the base. Hope walked to the table Oraian was sitting at and dropped the files down in front of him. A few of the papers peeked out due to the way he placed them down.

"Hm.." The male hummed and placed a hand on top of the two folders. "What are these..?" He asked solely focused on what was stamped on the front rather the information that was inside.

"A few things that I managed to find while Zack and I were at Hojo's." Hope went on to explain, if anything, I think you should probably open them up and have a look."

Zack nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We also overheard their crazy idea!."

"What the...?" Oraian exclaimed as he opened up the folder. The one that read failed first. "Failed!?" Enraged, he took the folder and tossed it off to the side. Seeing that he was among the failed experiments was enough to drive him over the edge. Not that he cared but he wasn't a failure! The male flinched slight and grabbed his shoulder area. "Damn.." He cursed quietly and shook off the pain that was present there. "A-anyway.." He reached for the other folder but didn't open it straight away like the other one. "Well, then tell us already!." He asked in a way that sounded extremely rude though he didn't mean for it to come out that way.

"Well," Hope began. "For starters, that Materia that you guys were looking for, the Remnants have it. Well the dark haired one does anyway."

"What!?" Oraian sprung up from his spot behind the desk. "How is that even possible..?" The amethyst eyed male slammed his fist against the table. "That can't be, Sephiroth dropped in the Lifestream so either it's still there or Xayne, wherever he is, has it!."

Hope shook his head. "Sorry to say but it's true. The one called Equis said he's using it to draw Lightning's attention.."

"Lightning!?" He said in a curious tone. "What could they possibly want with her?"

Zack shrugged. "They said something about the resurrection of Mother, and Lightning being the main source to all of that." Zack shook his head I'm not sure what mother is but they also mentioned waking Bhunivelze as well," The ebony haired male frowned. "And take control of the Lifestream and the planet."

This was all too damn much. Oraian slapped his palm against his face and slowly started to pace in circles. When it came to Hojo it was always something sinister. There was never a dull moment. Just like they were going to have to take a detour from their initial mission in order to stop another evil. He knew Lightning was probably going to be extremely pissed about this and he wouldn't blame her if she was. The woman put it off the first time to help him and now here it was happening again. While they thought Hojo was dead he wasn't. This time they needed to be the ones to kill him and actually witness it. This time he, along with the new additions, the Remnants were going down. He groaned in the back of his throat and closed his eyes tightly. "Alright guys," He said brushing off the pain he felt in his shoulder again. "We need to nip this in the bud early before it get way out of hand." He explained.

"What's going on?" It was Lightning who asked. She emerged from the infirmary and joined the three next to the table. Lightning stared at each of them, noticing how quiet they had grown upon her entrance into the room. The woman rolled her eyes. "Someone say something!."

"Zack and I were at Hojo's hideout and found out some vital information." Hope said to the pinkette. "To make it short, they're concocting up a plan to take control of this planet, and it involves you and the Bhunivelze Materia, which one of them have. They referred to you as _The Vessel_."

Lightning was quiet for a moment. If it wasn't one thing it was another. What the hell could they possibly need with her? If they wanted to create some master plan they should have left her out of it.

"Tch, I'm no one's vessel for anything!."

_'I created you..'_

"Nor am I anyone's project!." She said clenching her hands into fists.

_'...for a purpose..'_

_'And what purpose was that, Hojo..?'_

_'No!.'_ The pinkette shook her head and snapped her head back up at her comrades. "I'm gonna kill them all.." Lightning concluded.

"And we're helping!." Oraian agreed.

"So am I." Hope said, surprising Lightning a little bit. "Only because, what happens here can possibly ripple off and effect out home as well Lightning. We all may be in different lands but we're all in the same world." He explained. "And I'm not about to let anything happen to my home."

"Alright welcome to the team!." Zack shouted.

"Alright then." Lightning nodded. Hope was right after all. There was a connection between the lands of Gran Pulse and Gaia, The silver haired male just didn't know how much of a connection there really was.


	6. The Other Entity

**Chapter 6: The Other Entity**

"So where exactly do we start?" Hope asked. They all had come to the agreement that they wanted to stop Hojo but without an idea of how to go about that, they were back to square one without a plan.

"Heh, that's a good question." Oraian stated. "Well the Oscillator is a no go for the moment, so beats me. Lightning?"

Everyone turned to the pink haired soldier who rolled her eyes and looked off to the side. Hell she didn't even know. She'd been out for the past three years. How was she supposed to know? "We should start at the Northern Crater." Lightning blurted out, causing Oraian to raise a quizzical brow. She felt a question coming and honestly didn't know how she would answer it.

Oraian gripped his chin with his thumb and index finger. While he found it random that the woman called out such a location it was also somewhat baffling and odd. "Why there?"

Light shrugged and shook her head. She knew that question was coming. She couldn't even explain why those words slipped past her lips in the first place. She'd never heard of or even been to the location before. "I just feel like it's a good place to start."

"Uhm, alright?" He scratched the back of his head. "If you say so Light." But before we go, I got something for ya!." He said and vanished into the weapons arsenal.

Lightning walked back to the infirmary with Hope following not too far behind. The woman rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes. She was feeling a little woozy.

"Lightning?"

Said woman jumped and pushed herself off the wall. The quick action made her fell slightly dizzy. She had not known that she was followed. Hope grabbed a roll of bandages from the shelf and removed his jacket. Underneath was a black short sleeved shirt that he also removed.

"!" Lightning quickly rolled her eyes in the other direction and growled lowly. "Why are you stripping in front of me?" She barked at the silver haired male.

Hope reached up on the shelf and grabbed a bottle that read _wound solution_ and opened it up. Grabbing gauze pad he poured the solution on it and pressed it against his wounded shoulder. "I-I'm not." He said throught gritted teeth while cleaning his wound. "Equis stabbed me earlier and I never got the chance to properly tend to it." He finished cleaning it then tossed the bloody pad into the trash can beside him. "So, you ready to start talking now, or are you going to continue to give me a hard time?" He asked as he unraveled the bandages and started wrapping his injured shoulder.

"Hope, like I've said before, I'm not going anywhere until my mission is complete. Until then, I suggest you don't say anything to me." Lightning moved from the wall and walked from the infirmary. She felt a heated argument getting ready to come to past and decided to avoid it. She knew that she would win no matter what it would be about but it was a waste of time and energy to just quarrel with Hope right now.

"There you are!." Oraian ran behind the woman just as she was turning around. "Here you go!." He held out his arms that contained a weapon. "I kind of remembered that Sephiroth destroyed your other one so I went ahead and constructed you a new one!."

"You.." Lightning took the sheathed weapon from his hands and looked it over. Her eyes were wide with obvious shock much to her disliking, but she was surprised that anyone would-

She pulled the weapon from the sheathe in sword mode and swung it through the air a few times. It was a little heavier than her last one but she would get used to it eventually. Sheathing the weapon she nodded at her companion, a gesture to thank him.

"No problem Light."

* * *

**Gaia Plains- 1:10am**

The rain still covered the large plain of green. But it had gotten much worse since earlier. They could barely see anything and the lightning and wind had picked up greatly.

"It would be nice if the weather conditions could change to I don't know, something a little more clearer!." Hope said out loud, fed up with the terrible weather since he had arrived. "So Oraian, who's mother?" The silver haired male asked. "While Zack and I were at Hojo's we heard the Remnants talking about it. He told me to ask you."

Oraian blinked a few times before giving an answer. That word alone had history behind it, let alone the entity itself. "Well, Mother is a word used by those that were injected with cells from the being they're calling such, Jenova." He paused and looked off to the right before continuing. "You see, 2,000 years before any of us were born, a meteor with Jenova attached to it, clashed here on this planet. Upon its arrival, it caused a lot of havoc mainly towards the Cetra by infecting them with a virus that mutated them into monstrosities. Jenova managed to destroy nearly the entire population of Cetra. But the few that lived through its terror battled Jenova and isolated it in the location in which we are headed now; The Northern Crater."

"What!?" Hope stopped in his footsteps and his eyes grew wide. "So Jenova is..is there?"

Oraian shook his head. "No, it's not. 2,000 years later, a man named Professor Gast came across Jenova and mistook it as a Cetra. Gast, at the time was the head of Shin-Ra Science and Research Department. When Shin-Ra heard of this they sent Hojo and a woman named Lucrecia Crescent to assist him in the research. Thus creating the Jenova Project."

"Upon finding out that Jenova was a Cetra, Hojo's intentions became clear. To create a new race of Cetra. And he was successful in doing such. By injecting the cells of Jenova into his own unborn child, Sephiroth. With this one success Hojo felt the need to create more like Sepiroth, by injecting the cells of Jenova into members of SOLDIER. Shin-Ra's elite military force. While most were failed experiments and resulted in them becoming monsters or worse, there were successful ones including Lightning and myself. But we weren't as successful as Sephiroth. At least I wasn't." He looked ahead at the pink haired soldier that was walking several paces in front of them. "Lightning on the other hand. I'm kind of skeptical.."

"Skeptical..?" Hope's head tilted sideways. "Why's that?"

"Well, when I had met Lightning for the first time three years ago, she told me Hojo had experimented on her several time yet nothing had happened."

"Is that necessarily a bad thing?"

Oraian shook his head. "No, not really, it is odd nonetheless. However, effects from the cells and the Mako didn't start up until Xayne, her, and myself began traveling together. Lightning started showing-" Oraian stopped realizing he almost spilled Lightning's condition to him without her consent. While he believed he had the right to know, he wasn't at all sure if Lightning felt the same. The two weren't exactly on friendly terms. "I uhm, sorry got a little off topic there, you only asked about Jenova and-"

"No. What were you going to say?" The two came to a stop but Lightning kept walking, ignoring the fact her comrades were having a discussion in the first place. "Is there something wrong with Lightning?" Hope tried to show as little concern as he possibly could, Oraian could see that but he was also able to see how terrible he was at it.

He'd already given out way too much information as it is. "To answer your question about JENOVA, the ones who are born with her cells within them, refer to her as such, so far the only ones have been Sephiroth and well, The Remnants. As far as where she is now," He shrugged. That's anyone's guess."

Hope could see that the male was obviously dodging his question. He huffed and cast his eyes up at the sky. A flash of violent lightning ripped in the sky and a loud boom, causing him to jump slightly. His eyes fell to Lightning's back. What did he care anyway? Lightning's condition didn't concern him in the least. Then why was his stomach churning and twisting so much?  
_  
__'When I come back, it'll be with Lightning..'_

Maybe because he promised Serah that he would return with her sister. Hope wasn't one to break promises. The more he thought about it the more worried he became. His eyes flashed to Oraian who was playing around with one of his gadgets. What was he hiding? He would ask Lightning, but getting information from her would be like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.

Lightning suddenly came to a quick and unannounced stop, startling her comrades. Her eyes searched up and all around her. The air seemed different and the wind around them changed. She could feel something.

"What is it Light?" Oraian asked.

The woman swiftly drew her gun blade in sword mode and took a few steps back from her comrades. "We're not alone." She said lowly. Just seconds after she spoke those words, black dust gathered up in front of them until they took on the form of two figures, Kadaj and Yazoo.

"You, bastards!." Lightning dashed off at the two with a quickness before they had enough time to realize what was actually occurring.

Yazoo smirked at the woman while drawing his weapon that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Thrusting the arm forward containing the weapon, he was able to catch the woman's against it. The collision of both weapons caused a lingering cling sound that hummed through the air and slowly faded away. "Seems sister wants to play." He said coolly.

"Forget playing," Kadaj began as he too drew his weapon. "I want to dance!." The male said right before dashing towards the woman and her other comrades.

Oraian reached for his sword at his lower back while Hope drew his from over his back on sword mode. Hope stood his ground for a second or so, while channeling magical energy through his weapon in the form of fire. Seconds later the blade became engulfed in flames.

"What the!?" Oraian exclaimed.

Hope sprinted off at Kadaj and did an underhand swing of his sword just before it clashed with Kadaj's. Hope swiftly slashed up, breaking their clash and went for a diagonal swing, and a cross slash. Each attack done with great dexterity but, not enough.

Kadaj could only laugh at the boy's attempt to try and attack him. To him this was a mere game. "Give up boy," Ice blue energy began to gather around his left hand. He chuckled softly as the continuous sound of the boy's blade clanking against his own filled his ears.

Hope was becoming so agitated, and mocked by this individual that the obvious sign that the male was preparing an attack, wasn't even clear to him.

Kadaj pulled his left hand back at his side and pushed forward on his blade. Hope stumbled and tripped back a few steps but caught his balance. He huffed and swung his sword out at his side. His emeralds settled on the other's psychotic cat-like ones. All of this for what, Lightning?

Briefly his eyes averted off to the right at the swordplay that was taking place over that way, between Yazoo, Lightning, and Oraian. Two against one any they were still struggling. He remembered how he used to look up to Lightning at one point, and admired her because of her strength and her ability to block out emotion, as well as stay sane at the end of the day with no type of regrets, if she ever ended up killing. He thought Lightning to be the best role model anyone could possibly ask for. But, not anymore. Those feelings did a complete 360 after that incident. "Hmph!." He quickly snapped his eyes back towards his enemy who still seemed to be waiting.

_'With the resurrection of Mother and waking the sleeping god Bhunivelze, we'll be unstoppable. This planet and it's life source will be ours to control!.'_

_'Bring me back the vessel, bring me Project L!.'_

All of this for this for their sinister plan. Hope shifted his position sightly and pushed one foot out in front of him. He spun his sword in his right hand a few times then leaned forward. "Not if I can help it." He mumbled quietly to himself. His eyes danced from side to side as he eyed his opponent's figure, even picking up on the flowing energy in his left hand that he didn't notice earlier.

_'Uh-huh..'_

Hope collapsed his weapon to gun-mode and charged off at the male as he did earlier. Kadaj merely laughed, somehow knowing that the male would again repeat this action. He thrusted his left arm forward releasing a barrage of thick pointy ice shards at the silver haired male.

Hope chuckled quietly as his left hand gathered up magical energy. The sharp shards flew in his direction and Hope parried them all by performing some side flips and maneuvering his body in many ways. With his movements it felt like the shards were moving in a dilatory manner rather than a quick one. Hope then aimed his gun up at his enemy and shot three bullets.

As he predicted, Kadaj evaded, perfect. "Ruinga!." The energy at his left hand was released and a large sphere of energy clustered together over his foe's head. Shocked at this combo since he didn't see it coming, Kadaj attempted escape, but the giant sphere of energy exploded with him caught under it. The explosion of grey white energy had enough of an impact to cause his body to bounce from the ground, and several feet into the air.

"You're finished!." Hope placed his weapon back in the sheath and leapt into the air. Gathering elemental energy in his right hand, he prepared for another magic attack, Ultima. Hope pulled his gun blade out once more and slashed across Kadaj's figure a few times before kicking him back towards the surface. He then releases the magic attack that consisted of large energy explosion of green and black that engulfed his enemy's figure.

Hope landed back upon the grounds after the attack had finished. A large amount if dust lingered in the air and he could not see anything. He could still hear the constant metal clinging from the other waging battle, and the low rumbling thunder. Hope turned and looked towards his two comrades that were still fighting Yazoo. He could only shake his head in disappointment, mainly in Lightning. Seemed he would have to step in and finish this fight off.

"Take this!." Oraian casted Ice2 in attempt to attack the male while he and Lightning were clashing swords. But the attempt was useless when Yazoo vanished to the other side of the field. "Dammit, he's too fast!."

Yazoo's usual frown grew deeper as he glared off at Lightning. "We don't have to continue this sister if you just-"

A blast of fire came out of nowhere and the male's body was forced back across the field. Both Lightning and Oraian looked in the direction in which the blast came from to see Hope. "Sorry couldn't help but notice that you were struggling here Lightning. So figured I'd step in and lend you guys a hand." He said and flashed a mocking smirk at the woman.

Lightning's eyes grew wide before she growled lowly in the back of her throat. The nerve of him to say such words like that to her. While he wasn't wrong Lightning hated when she appeared weak in front of others. But it wasn't her fault, it was the damn-  
_  
__'If only you knew..'_

Lightning clenched her hand tighter around the hilt of her blade. "Just stay out of my way!" She yelled back at Hope and charged at Yazoo.

Hope watched intently as Lightning and the other battled. Well attempted. Yazoo simply connected the blunt edge of his weapon with Lightning's side, and she flew back. Hope laughed out loud at this and received a look of irritation from Oraian. He didn't know why he was being such a jerk.

"If you think you're so good why don't you come over here and-" Oraian stopped his heated statement when he saw a silhouette appeared behind the silver haired male. Busy laughing at Lightning's lack of ability, Hope did not recognize this at all. The figure behind him rose his weapon, ready to strike him. "Hope behind you!." Oraian shouted.

"Hn!." Hope whirled around quickly but his reaction wasn't quick enough to dodge, and he winded up taking a slash across the right side of his face, starting from the upper right corner of his nose—extremely close to his eye, and ending at his jawline.

Hope let out a pained cry and clasped his hand over the right side of his face. He didn't realize it but Kadaj was about to stab him.

"No you don't!." Oraian said, and swung his weapon for the silver haired menace's head, but ended up hitting nothing but air when the male's body disintegrated into black dust. "Damn!." He looked down at Hope who was holding a hand over his right eye. Damn that was a nasty looking gash. He wanted to say _that's what you _get but decided against it. "You-"

"I'm fine." Hope said regularly. "It's just a cut."

"This doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.." Lightning said, grabbing both her comrade's attention. When did she get there? The pinkette looked at Hope covering his eye but said nothing about it and went on. "There has to be some other way we can go about this."

"Yea, well leave that to Hope and me. We'll take care of this battle, you go on to the crater. We'll meet you there." Oraian said.

"You sure?" Lightning hated the idea of leaving these two alone with these men, knowing just how psychotic they were. But she knew Oraian was capable of handling them. "Alright then." The woman said before taking off towards the crater.

"And then there were two." Oraian said and looked off at the two who were standing some feet away from them. He sighed and looked down at the sword in his hand. "You good to fight man?" He was growing tired of this tedious battle and was ready for it to end.

Hope nodded and lowered his gloved hand from his eye. The wound was leaking with blood that ran down into his shirt. He cursed himself mentally for being so careless and not paying attention. But he was certain that his last attack killed Kadaj. What the hell was keeping these two alive!? He flinched slightly from the shocks of pain throbbing in the wound but he tried to ignore it for the time being. "Yeah I'm fine," His hand tensed around his weapon. "Let's get this over with."

**-xxxxxx-**

Lightning sprinted as fast as she could across the plains to get to the crater. Strangely she didn't know where she was going but her instinct was telling her she was going the right way. One thing she wondered on is what what was there?

'The Northern Crater.'

Why there? She figured that she'd find out whenever she reached there. Besides heading to an unknown location she knew nothing about wouldn't be the first.

'Be careful Light..'

The woman grunted and pressed her hand against her eye. There was that pain again and those visions. They'd flashed to her several times during her battle with Yazoo. But they were flashes of a dark place. Then those red eyes, like she had seen in her dream. Theses visions had a meaning behind them, she was sure about that. But what meaning, she was not at all sure of that yet. But she strongly believed it was Xayne. Wherever he was he was helping her and obviously trying to lead her in the right direction, the direction that could possibly lead her to him.

Lightning reached a narrow path that trailed along the water. Stepping forward, she began walking along it. It was strange that there was a path just sitting in the middle of the ocean, but she wasn't complaining about it. The woman walked for about thirty minutes before she came to land. It was certainly colder here, and everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow. It was also slightly darker over here. Lightning climbed up the side of the mountain until she came to a stop at the top, where the crater was. The woman peered down in ginormous hole and of course could see nothing. Around the rigid and pointy sides, energy from the Lifestream could be seen streaming down into the crater.

Lightning was never at all interested in the history of this place but she remembered hearing earlier when Oraian and Hope were talking, that Jenova created this wound in the planet.

"As I thought, I knew we'd see one another again."

Lightning jumped back away from the crater while simultaneously drawing her gun-blade. Her eyes dragged from the ground and trailed up the toned and muscular form in front of her. Finally her eyes locked on those silver cat-like pupils. "Equis!."

"In the flesh!." He said with a small smirk. He stepped down off the edge and behind the woman, soon pacing. His index finger was pressed against his chin and those glowing argent optics stared down at the ground. The crunching sound of the snow was low, but it echoed lightly.

Lightning's eyes followed the male's movements closely, waiting for him to make some kind of move. "What are you doing here, and what do you want?"

"Huh?" He picked his head up almost as if he were surprised. His eyes grew wide like those of a puppy dog that was begging. "Come on now Lightning," he placed one hand on his hip and extended the other one out. He smirked and his eyes went back to their normal size. "You can't possibly think that just because we always run into each other means I want something. Hell," He rose both his arms up in the air before dropping them back to his sides. "I'm not even here to pick a fight with you. However," his hand slipped into a pouch at his lower back. "I did come to give something."

'Give.' Light's eyes narrowed to slits. It didn't matter what this guy said, it wasn't like she could believe or trust what he was saying. He was manipulative and malefic. Nothing in her mind made her think otherwise of this guy. "As if I'd take anything from you!."

"I'm sure you would." Equis pulled a glowing sphere of blue-ish white Materia from within his pouch and presented it to her. "If you knew it was this!."

The Bhunivelze Materia. Lightning was tempted to reach out for it and grab it, but something was telling her not to. Either that or she was just being way too cautious. The woman's eyes stared at the glowing orb in his palm. There had to be something behind this, these Remnants wouldn't just give something like this away. Not after what Hope and Zack told them. "Just what type of game are you playing here?"

"Game!?" He was taken aback by her words and drew the luminescent orb back against his torso. "I don't play games Lightning." A small chuckled passed over his lips as he looked down at the Materia. "I can't believe this, I try to be sincere and this is the type of thanks I receive." He sighed and shook his head. "Can't please everyone I suppose-"

_'Take it Light..'_

"Ahhgh!." There was another vision but it was one from that dream. The part when Xayne gave her the Materia. "Hn!." Perhaps this is what the dream was showing her. "Xayne.."

_'Take it..'_

"But if you don't want it then I guess-"

"Wait no!." Just as she was about to reach for the orb, Equis tossed it off into the crater. Lightning forward over the opening as her eyes frantically searched, but there was nothing, just an abyss. "You bastard!." She said and pressed her blade against his throat.

"Now now, let's not start with the name calling and finger pointing. I offered it to you and you didn't want it." He said, showing no type of fear even though the cold steel of the woman's blade was to his throat.

"Tch." Lightning drew it away and looked back towards the crater. It wasn't until that voice told her to take it, Xayne's voice. Otherwise she wouldn't have. The weapon folded into a gun and she slipped it into the sheath. Stepping at the edge of the crater she sighed. As much as she wanted to avoid this, she needed that Materia. She stepped one foot out in front of her and leaned forward-

"Are you insane!." A force, no a hand grabbed onto her arm and quickly yanked her back over the edge before she could fall. "You can't go in there!." The male said showing feigned concern.

"Ahhgh!" A flash of a face but she couldn't make out who it was. She grumbled and looked up at Equis, angered that he was trying to stop her. "A-Arrgh!." Another flash of the same face. She grabbed her eye and took a few deep breaths. The pain was a little more intense this time. "Mind your damn business!." She stepped back on the edge.

"Lightning!."

The woman jumped into the crater and vanished into the abyss. "Lightning!." Equis peered over the edge and seen no sign of her. Just the cold winter air blowing through it. He smirked and slowly began to laugh to himself. Pulling himself up over the edge, his back rested against the exterior of the crater as his dark laugh bellowed in the air.

"Lightning!?" Oraian called out. Him and Hope had finally made it to the crater after a long battle with the two Remnants. The fight was long but the two eventually wore the silver haired men out until they decided to flee.

"Where is she?" Oraian asked as he searched around the crater.

"Not here yet maybe?" Hope suggested.

"That's impossible.." Oraian commented.

"Oh you guys just missed her by a few minutes." Equis said popping out from behind one of the snowy cliffs. "Just minutes before you guys showed up," He pointed over to the crater." Lightning dived inside."

"What!?" Oraian peeked over the crater before snapping his head back towards Equis. "For what reason!?"

"Now if I tell you all of that then I'll be spilling too much." His body started braking up into black particles.

"You're not going anywhere!." Oraian ran towards the vanishing man with his sword but was too late.

"Guess you'll have to find out for yourself." Equis said before he was truly gone.

"Damn!."

Hope looked into the crater then back at Oraian. "You think she's really in there?"

He shrugged and leaned against the edge. "Beats me. I don't wanna go in there and we're being misled into a trap. But it doesn't seem like we have any other choice in the matter." He jumped inside and planted his feet against the rigid walls. Pieces of crumbling rock broke off and fell down into the dark caverns. "Hope, let's go."

**-xxxxxx-**

**Northern Crater: Caves 2:06am**

Maybe she should have used common sense. It would have told her not to jump in, but to use the path provided to descend down into the caves. Probably then she wouldn't be hanging from the walls by her gun blade. There was still no sign that she was anywhere near close to the bottom of this place nor did she catch the Materia anywhere. "Dammit.."

Lightning held on tight to her blade and swung her figure back and forth, the blade slowly slipping from its place in the wall. One last swing and her, along with the gun blade flew forward and landed on a wide cliff.

"Alright," Now that that hassle was over and done with, it was time to descend to the bottom of this place correctly. The woman began walking along the muddy pathway quickly, but also very carefully. The earth in this place was extremely fragile and soft. Every step she took she could hear the crumbling and cracking away of it. One wrong step or too much pressure and-

"D-gah!" Lightning quickly grabbed onto the side of the wall just as part of the pathway gave way. The chunk crumbled into tiny pieces of gravel and fell down into the darkness.  
_  
__'Close one..'_

She thought to herself. It didn't scare her but she had to admit she did panic a little bit. It caught her off guard. Her hear was throbbing in her chest and her hands were quaking.

_'You're alive right? Stop acting like you just died..' _She scolded to herself. The woman reached up over the ledge and pulled herself up to safety. Hopefully that would be the first and last time that would occur in this place.

It was about an hour or so before Lightning actually made it to the end of the path. Bit that came with more frustration. The woman stepped forward to the center of a four path. Great these what was she supposed to do, play iny-meenie-miny-mo and pick the one she'd go down? "Guess I'll go with the path straight head.."  
_  
__'No, go right..'_

That pain again, only this time she didn't flinch. It had been coming so frequently lately, that Lightning was growing used to it. She didn't know whether or not to see that as a bad or good thing. "The..right?" The woman turned towards the pathway on the right. Whether or not she should trust what the voice was saying wasn't exactly a question she should be pondering over at this moment, but Lightning couldn't help it. Her instinct was pulling her in one direction while the voice in her mind, Xayne's voice was yanking her in the other.

_'Trust me Light, I would never steer you in the wrong direction.'__  
_  
She could believe that, but-

Lightning absently rose a foot and starts down the pathway, the one the voice told her to follow. She couldn't even begin to explain what was making her go this way. Again, her instinct was yelling at her. She tried to stop so she could go back the other way but she couldn't, her feet wouldn't allow her to stop. The path leads into a cave, a dark cave with the glow of Mako on the walls, a familiar place.

Lightning remembered this place from that dream she had not so long ago, it just felt a little more different-  
_  
__Cl-clin-clink!_

"Hm?" The woman's foot touch something after taking a step forward. Peering down at her feet, she discovered the Materia. Lightning's mind wandered for a moment. That wasn't there just a few seconds ago. "What the hell.." She reached for it but she wasn't the only one. Another hand hovered over the luminescent orb just before she had the chance to claim it. Lightning quickly grabbed the wrist of the person and squeezed it tightly. She wasn't about to let someone else steal this away from her again. "Move you're hand or I'll snap your wrist." She said coldly, and starts twisting the persons hand.

"AHHHGH! Alright, alright you can have it!" The person shouted out and pulled his arm away when the woman released it. He held his wrist it his arm and studied it, though he really couldn't see much due to the dim lighting.

Lightning scooped the Materia up in her hand and held onto it at her side. At first the male's voice drew her attention but she couldn't be completely sure.

"I was going to give it to you anyway, if that's what you were so worried-Ah hey! Stop it that thing is bright!." He crossed his arms over his eyes when Lightning decided to use the orb as a light source.

So it was. Lightning gasped. She was happy but didn't show it in either her body language or her expression. She kept it to herself. "Xayne.."

Xayne rolled his eyes though Lightning could hardly see it. "What are you so shocked for, you couldn't possibly believe that I was dead. It's going to take more than the Lifestream to kill me off Light." He finished with a warm smile.

Lightning looked him over carefully. There was nothing at all different about him. Unlike her he didn't seem to suffer from any dramatic changes while float through the Lifestream. He still appeared as he did three years ago. "Where'd you come out at?"

Xayne shrugged. "I-it's unclear, I was very disoriented though. But when I came to, and realized I was wandering, I found myself outside of Kalm. It was then I realized that I didn't have the Materia so I went searching for it and ended up here. At first I thought you had it, but I remembered that I'm the one that went after it when we encountered Sephiroth. It was like something drew me here on purpose." He turned his back to the woman and smirked darkly. "But whatever it was, bought the two of us together and that's all that matters. Isn't it?"

Lightning nodded in agreement to his words. Now that Xayne was found, they along with Oraian can pick up where they left off. "Let's get out of here, Oraian and Hope are-" The pinkette picked up the hand from her side with the Materia in it only to realize that it had taken on a different appearance. "This, this isn't-" The Materia was clear and had dark blue and black energy flowing around inside it.

"It's not Lightning," Xayne said unaffected by the fact that it wasn't the Bhunivelze Materia. Eyes of jade pierced down at the ground as he went on to explain. "What you hold in your hand is something much different. Much more powerful than the materia you seek." He tore his gaze from the ground and looked at the woman, a shifty glint twinkled in his eyes as he pointed out at the orb. "The Proto-J-Materia."

She couldn't believe that she allowed herself to fall victim to such trickery. She should have followed her instincts earlier. The way Equis had approached her was already odd, and she did exactly what he had probably planned for her to do, and fell into his trap. Why else would he just throw the materia into the crater?

'_Stupid…'_

But..

'_Take it..'_

"Is this why you called me here?" She looked down at the orb once dream, Xayne's voice, and ending up here. What if this was supposed to happen? The dream probably only showed Xayne giving her the Bhunivelze material because it's what she wanted, rather than what he was really giving her, which was this.

'_Be careful Light..'_

Why would he say that then? None of this was adding up, yet..

'_Proto-J-Materia..'_

"Only a select few are capable of using this." She heard Xayne speak, pulling her out of her state of thought. "It's one of four ancient materia that was discovered eons ago. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, it's sure to cause the planet chaos!."

"Then what the hell would I want with materia that'll cause the world destruction Xayne?" She dropped the orb from her hands and it clinked against the ground. "I'm trying to save it." It rolled directly to Xayne's feet just as the woman was heading towards the cavern exit. "I figured you were trying to do the same but," She looked over her shoulder at the male, but it seems your intentions have changed." She said coldly. She picked up on Xayne's odd behavior when they first started talking but she wasn't completely sure until now. "Just know that if you get in my way and try to stop me, I won't hesitate to kill you.."

"No, Light it's not like that!." He picked up the Materia and ran out in front of the woman, pushing it back within her hands. His eyes narrowed and a growing frown was present on his face. "Nothing's changed about me. My intentions are still the same!."

Lightning ignored the male that she used to think of as a comrade and pushed pass him. Anything he was saying was not reaching her, for she didn't care about anything else he had to say. "Lighting please!." He ran behind her but she kept walking. "Lightning!." He stopped suddenly the glowing orb still in his hands. The woman didn't stop to look back at him nor did she respond to her calling out her name. "Lightning!." He called out firmly, anger lined his voice now. Still no response, guess he would have to try the other thing. "The material will help you free your friends from their crystal status!."

'_What..'_

Lightning froze in place. Xayne released a relieved sigh and ran up behind the woman, a hopeful smile on his face. The pinkette stared at him, glaring almost. She didn't know whether to believe him or not. "Xayne if you're pulling my leg so help me I'm going to-"

"I wouldn't lie to you Light." The sly smirk from earlier stretched across his lips. "This what I've been trying to tell you all along, this is why you're here. The Proto-J-Materia can be used for good or bad." His sly smirk transformed into a bright and friendly smile. "You trust me, don't you Light?"

Trust? She wasn't sure who or what to trust anymore. It appeared that every time she did something there was always something bad to come along with it. But she's been trying to find a way to help her friends for the longest now. There was a solution but that meant throwing the world into utter chaos. Why do that if this here was a much simpler solution. No one would get harmed, and the planet would be safe. Lightning reached and grabbed the orb from Xayne's hands. Holding it in the palm of her left hand she observed it. Yea, this was the better way to go about things. "So, how exactly do I go about using this then?"

Ecstatic, Xayne nodded and went on to explain. "Just press it against your chest and the rest will happen on its own!."

Still a bit skeptical about it all, Lightning hesitated before she actually placed the orb at her chest. She closed her eyes and took in a breath. _'It's for Vanille and Fang..' _She told herself and pressed her hands gently against the orb. _'Nothing else..'_

Bright rays of light emitted from between her fingers as the orb of materia sank into her chest. When the orb was no longer in sight, The woman opened her eyes. That was it? She looked over at Xayne who just smiled and nodded his head. For some allegedly strong materia, Lightning was half expecting-

"Nrgh!."

Her heart beat but it wasn't a regular one, this one hurt, like a sharp object had been dragged across her chest. Her heart beat again and the same pain scratched across the delicate organ. Lightning gasped and fell to one knee. Her mouth fell agape and her eyes shut tight in pain and she let out a groan of agony. "Wh-what the h-hell!."

"Ahhgh!" Her body started to quake and the muscles in her entire body started to sting and burn, almost like her flesh was being burnt too weak to hold herself up, she fell against the ground. She felt like she was going to die. What was this? "Arrgh!" a vision flashed to her, showing her a visual of something that didn't quite make sense;

_An arm reaching for a glowing turquoise sphere._

_The sphere being tossed into a fissure in the ground._

_The death of a giant creature cloaked in the shadows._

_Then…_

_Vanille and Fang.._

The visual ended but the pain ripping across her body did not. Lighting screamed out and arched her back against the ground before rolling over on her side. "Fu-fuck!" The last bit of pain coiled up her spine and shot directly to the stem of her brain like a bolt of lightning. The woman gasped with wide eyes just before everything washed over in black.

Her right arm, the one that was giving her problems earlier that day, started developing three dark lines within the veins. The lines started stretching up further and spreading out across her forearm, and stopping just at the base of her hand.

* * *

**Everything is developing slowly I know, but this is the last chapter of slowness. From this point forward things start to get interesting! :D**


	7. Relapse

**Chapter 7: Relapse**

"Light?"

The woman's eyes opened briefly, but shut quickly when they rolled to the back of head. Her body twitched and felt tingly all over. Her muscles still had that burning sensation running through them but it was slowly fading away.

"Light, you okay?"

The woman breathed in slowly before, somehow pulling herself up into a sitting position. "Mmph.." She groaned and rubbed her hand against her face. She felt like a zombie right now but that feeling was leaving her quickly.

"She's fine what are you getting so wound up for?" Hope asked Oraian.

"For your information I'm not wound up about anything!." The amethyst eyed male shot back. "Unlike you I care about my comrades."

"Pfft, trust me, she's fine. She's Lightning. And she likes it better when people don't show that they're worried for her." He said giving information that Oraian was already aware of.

Lightning heard the two's bickering but chose not to say anything about it since she couldn't really find the strength to part her lips and say anything. _'What happened..'_ She looked down at the ground as she tried to recall the events that happened before she blacked out.

"Xayne!." She said aloud, grabbing the attention of her bickering comrades.

"What the!?" Hope said upon noticing something odd about the woman. "Your!-"

Oraian quickly nudged Hope in the ribs. "Ouch what was that for!." He noticed it too but it was best not to say anything. "Don't.." He mumbled. It was baffling and at the same time scary. What happened?

That Materia. She pressed her hand against her chest. What exactly does it do? Xayne said it will save Vanille and Fang, but she felt a lot different than she did before receiving that Materia. And not in a bad way either. She stood up from the ground and looked around for the male but he was nowhere in sight. He's probably gone.

"You alright there Light?" Oraian asked.

The woman turned around to look at him. She half nodded her head, looking into the male's eyes in which he quickly turned his gaze elsewhere, a sense of fear within them. While she wasn't at all sure what that was all about she didn't bother to ask either, she didn't think it was important. "Did you guys happen to run into Xayne on your way down here?"

"Xayne!?" Oraian said in a shocked voice that Lightning didn't at all react to. "He was here!?"

She nodded. "Yea, briefly, don't know where he ran off to so suddenly."

"Uh-huh.." He said tapping his index finger against his chin. "Well, The Remnants ran off again, not sure where to this time, but we encountered Equis just before getting down here, he ran off too."

"Uh-huh, yeah so did I, he's the reason why I'm down here in the first place." Lightning said distantly. It was like she was barely paying them any attention. "Anyhow, what I came down here for isn't here so," she turned around to face the worried expression of Oraian and an uncaring Hope. "Let's get out of here.." She said and walked pass the both of them.

Oraian looked at Hope and the silver haired male just shrugged his shoulders. When Lightning got a considerable distance away from them, Oraian started to talk. "Her..her eyes, they.." He paused and his expression turned into a deep frown. "They resemble Sephiroth's and the Remnants.." He said. A growing worry churned in his stomach, twisting and knotting as he tried to comprehend what he just saw. "I don't like this yo, I have a hunch that something isn't right.."

"You're over thinking things.." Hope said blandly, blowing off what they just witnessed. Mostly because he could careless but mainly because he was truly oblivious to what was occurring. It was too much to sit down and try to understand the problems and events that this region was going through. Really he just wanted to go home, get back to his life, and Serah. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"But you seen it, you were just as bewildered as I was. I'm telling you, Lightning's not telling us something." Oraian stressed.

"Oh that's _new_.." Hope said sarcastically and started in the direction Lightning walked off in. "Lightning never tells anyone much of anything, she closes people out constantly."

Oraian knew that, he knew a lot about Lightning without her having to say or do much of anything. But the way she was acting just now, was much more distant than usual, and Hope failed to see that obviously.

**-xxxxxx-**

"There you are!." A spry voice called out from the woman who just ignored the person and kept walking.

"Where the hell did you run off to Xayne?" Lightning asked with heavy irritation resonating in her tone. Gloved digits reached up and pressed against the center of her chest, gently massaging the area there. It still burned a little bit.

"I had to take care of something, but I'm going with you, so we can finish this journey together, like we started. "He placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. His eyes radiated a glimmer of happiness that Lightning had never seen before and it was making her feel a little uncomfortable and sick.

"Yea whatever," She said and shrugged his hand from her shoulder. "You never really did explain to me exactly how this Materia works you know. Instructions of some type would be helpful."

"Oh right about that," He stopped when the woman came to an abrupt halt. He took some steps back and scratched the back of his head, a nervous smile stretching across his lips. "You see, I don't quite know."

"You what!?"

"Now, now, now Light." He said hastily and held his hands up in defense. The woman started walking towards him and he started backing up. He saw the woman reaching for her gun blade and froze. "L-listen! Listen!." His back hit a wall, hindering him from moving any further. "Light let's not be rash here," He went to move but the woman grabbed him by the center of his shirt and slammed his back into the wall, the impact crumbling away a large chunk of the wall. Where did her strength come from? "Nah! don't kill me!." He said, feeling the cold blade of steel touch his neck. "Hear me out!."

"You got three seconds before your blood coats the grounds of this cavern!." She said darkly.

Xayne could feel the blade grazing his neck and panicked. "Visions!. The visions!."

_'Visions..'_ Her patience was slipping and she was getting irritated. "What fucking vision!." The blade pressed harder against his neck, some blood started running down the length of her blade.

"They'll come to you, just follow them."

"Hey Lightning wait up!."

"Vision huh." She pulled her blade from the male's neck and he fell to the ground holding the area that was bleeding. It wasn't anything serious thankfully. "Alright then," she flung the blade and the little bit of blood on it splashed on the ground. "Just know if you're lying-"

"Lightning?" Oraian called, staring strangely at the woman. "Who are you-"

"I'm not lying Light. I swear on Cosmos I'm telling you the truth."

"For your sake you better be.." She said and put the blade back in its case.

Hope leaned up against a wall looking at Lightning as if she'd lost her mind and Oraian the same.

Lightning pointed to the male and looked at Oraian. "Told you he was here.." She said dryly. "Xayne.."

_'Xayne, but-'_

"Oh, yea I guess you were right!" He said as enthusiastically as he possibly could. "Good to have you back with us Xayne!" He held up his hand to give the other a high five.

"Likewise man!." Xayne said and slapped him a high five.

_'The hell!?'_ Hope thought. He was utterly confused. Were they both losing their minds or something? He pushed off the wall and walked towards them "What is wrong with you two I don't-"

"And this here is Hope!." Oraian said and threw his arm over the silver haired male's shoulder. He's new to the group and also a little rough around the edges but, he's alright once you get to know him." He teased.

"Good to meet you there Hope!." Xayne said before turning back to Lightning. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

**AVALANCHE Base: 4:00am****  
**  
It's like time was dragging along. Hope couldn't believe that it hasn't even been a day since he's been here and so much had already happened. The male stood at the sink in the infirmary and splashed cool water over his injured eye. He flinched a little bit at how it stung but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. This place was far worse than Cocoon, no probably ten times worse. Their unstable governmental system mirrored the Sanctum exactly but they were worse when it came to outsiders. At least when they got to Pulse, that somewhat calmed down. Though some people still looked at him and the others as the l'cie, and often blamed them for the destruction of their former home, there still was quite a hand full of people that were grateful to them.

Observing the wound, he realized it wasn't really all that bad. His eyelid was kind of slit but, luckily his eyes wasn't cut. That would have been terrible. The boy sighed and reached for the roll of bandages at the corner of the sink.

"Wonder how Serah is doing.." He mumbled to himself as he wrapped up his eye with the bandages. It's only been a day but it seems like it's been forever. He missed her and just hoped that she was okay, knowing how deeply depressed she still was. He hates that he had to leave her on such short notice, and alone. Which is why he had to hurry up here so he can get back to her.

"A-ahhgh.."

"Hmm..?" Hope finished with wrapping his wound and walked towards the door. "What was that?" He blinked his emerald eyes and looked around to see nothing. Everyone had went home. He, Light, Oraian and Xayne were the only ones here. But they were all sleeping.

"Ahhhh!"

"What in the name of-" Okay now he was curious. It sounded like someone was in pain or something. He stepped from the infirmary and followed the noise to one of the rooms, the one Lightning was in. The door was halfway open so he peeked inside.

The woman held on to her shoulder with one hand, while she clenched her other into a fist against her chest. She coughed and rolled over on her side, grunting and growling in severe pain.

Xayne just watched with a saddened expression. He remembered the first time he had seen Lightning go through an episode like this. It took Oraian to explain what was wrong with her. Even knowing for three years what Lightning's condition was, he still could not get used to this. Watching the woman writhe around in pain and agony. He wished that there was something he could do, he wished that he could just take her pain away and he'd endure it. But it didn't work that way sadly.

"Ahhgh!" Lightning arched her body against the floor as a spasm clashed over her body, ripping at the muscular tissue and stiffening her bones to the point that it was almost impossible for her to move at all. The dark lines present on her right arm had started to spread, now a dark patch across the length of her arm. It was also secreting a dark ooze.

"What the!?" To Hope it looked like she was having some sort of seizure so he quickly barged into the room without warning. "Lightning!."

Xayne looked over his shoulder at the approaching Hope, who quickly rushed to Lightning's side.

"I'm f-fine." She said weakly. Her body was cold, clammy, and sweaty. Her eyes lacked that malevolent glow that it had earlier. Not that Hope had a problem with that, but without it she looked extremely sick. Lightning sat up on the floor and hung her head, taking slow but weak breaths. She could still feel the pain slightly and she groaned. "I'm alright Hope, I'm just-" she gasped and jumped when a pain swam across her side. She wrapped her left arm around herself and kept her right one behind her and out of sight from Hope. "Just..muscles spasms.." She lied and stood to her full height. Her legs shook and she collapsed back to the floor.

"Ah," he said calmly. The butterflies in his stomach settled. Wait butterflies!? Was he just worried about her? "If you say so." He said and left the room. When the door closed behind him Hope started cursing himself for showing the slightest bit of concern for her. He shouldn't so much as care about her condition. "Ugh.."

"Muscle Spasms." Xayne commented with a small laugh. "Good one, I don't think even I would have thought of something like that. So I take it he doesn't know?"

Lightning didn't respond to Xayne's remark and just remained quiet. Her eyes looked down at the dark patch on her arm, as her finger traced along it. The black ooze from the mark coated her finger tips as another shock of pain followed. She flinched and grit her teeth. The mark was much more serious than the one she had three years back. This one damn near covered the entirety of her arm. "So this is what it feels like to die slowly.."

Her choice of words shocked Xayne. Yeah she was delusion. They were so dark and not Lightning like. "Don't say that Light." He hated hearing words like that come from her. It was something he wasn't at all comfortable with. "You have too much to do to just die right now. Don't let the Geostigma run you."

"If you were in my position right now, you'd understand." She said weakly and dropped her head back against the wall. By now she was just ready to give up. She was tired and just wanted it to all end. But everything was endless. The more they travelled the more questions they got. And those question came with little to no answers. At this rate she felt like she'd never get her friends back, and that this whole journey was a waste. "I don't think I can do this anymore.."

"Yes you can!." Xayne walked to the woman and knelt down in front of her. "After everything you've done up until now, you're just going to say screw it and throw it away?" He grabbed the pinkette's cold hand and held on to it. "Think about your two friends, the ones that you're doing this for? How do you think they would feel if you gave up on them?"

Lightning was too tired to think straight or understand anything Xayne was saying to her right now. She didn't care really. She just wanted to sleep. "Ahhgh!" Her heart constricted and she grabbed her chest. The pain was quick but it was enough to take the breath out of her. She breathed heavily as she slowly closed her eyes. "We'll discuss it..in the..morning Xay..ne."

The brunet male just stared at his comrade with worry filling his eyes. "I won't let you die.." He whispered softly to her.

**-xxxxxx-**

_Lightning woke the next morning and sat up from the floor. She gently shook her head and huffed out a groan. Her muscles were still screaming from the night before and her head was pounding._

_A flash of lightning lit up the entire room, booming thunder following in its wake. The woman pulled herself from the floor and gaited over to the window. Rain still pried from the sky like buckets at it did the day before. It was like this city alone was plagued with constant rain or something._

_Lightning grabbed onto the arm that her Geostigma was in but her fingers grazed along cloth material. Looking down she saw her arm had been bandaged up. She didn't do this. She lowered her arm back to her side and reverted her gaze back outside the window. She wasn't sure if she had the drive to do anything anymore. What was the point. She wasn't going to live long enough to see the outcome if anything. The Geostigma was tearing her apart from the inside out as it did once before. It was only a matter of time before-_

_'Stop acting so weak..'_

_"Tch.." She leaned her body against the window and dropped her head against it. She had to stop this. She's never been in such a gloomy mood before. What was this? Thinking lowly, and allowing herself to slowly succumb to this relapse was something only the weak minded would do. And that wasn't her._

_'I'll get the two of you back, I promise..'_

_She promised Vanille and Fang she'd find away. Sitting here pit thing herself wasn't going to do anything. She couldn't die. At least not yet. She refused to be a failure on her mission. A vision of the two woman flashed across her eyes quickly and she suddenly got her drive of determination restored._

_"Xayne?" She called out, looking for the male but no one answered. She turned around, lightning illuminated the room again, revealing a tall figure off in the corner. It wasn't Xayne though. The room went completely dark again, but only for a short few seconds before another spark hit the sky and filled the room with its luminance.__"_

_Lightning.." The figure was now directly in front of her. Taller than her by six inches. Long silver hair, that brushed across the woman's face, they bared the same eyes that she did, with that sinister grin and psychotic expression. This was-_

_"A-ahhgh!" Several visions came to Lightning but only one of them truly stood out to her. "Y-you.." She reached for her gunblade and swung for the towering male but struck nothing. "Where are you you bastard so I can kill you!._

_"__Sephiroth's caliginous laughter filled the room. "Concerned about my whereabouts are you? That is something you'll have to find out on your own. Your attempt to kill me is futile. I'll never die Lightning, no matter how many times you fight me, no matter how many times you defeat me, my death is impossible." He laughed again, raising both his arms up into the air over his head. "I am god, and soon everyone will see that. When I reshape this world into my own image." He reached down into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a familiar piece of Materia, the Bhunivelze Materia. "Everything starts with this.." He threw it to the woman but instead she catch it, the orb just clinked against the floor and rolled to her feet. "And it will end with this, to create a new beginning."__  
_  
**-xxxxxx-****  
**  
_BOOM_!

Lightning jumped from her sleep. Brightness flashed in her eyes and she almost bought her arm up to block the blinding light. "Xayne!?"

The door to her room opened up and Oraian walked in. "Good Morning there sleepy head. Had a nice rest?"

_'Morning?'_ It was still too dark and rainy to believe that this is what this city called a good morning. She didn't answer him.

He closed the door behind him and sat on the bed across from the woman. He cheerful expression faded to a more serious one. "Came to check on you earlier to see if you were alright, and noticed-" he pointed to her bandaged up arm. Lightning tugged her arm back and lay it in her lap. "I kind of wrapped it up for you, it looked like it was bothering you while you were sleep so, yeah."

"I'm fine Oraian." She said upon feeling his worried gaze staring at her. "Nothing I can't handle." She said and stood up from her place on the floor.

He grabbed onto his shoulder gently and closed his eyes. "Yeah, I know. But I can only imagine what you're going through Light."

"Yea that's all you can do honestly. You or no one else will never really understand."

He was silent for a second and only chuckled. "Right."

The pitter patter of the rain hitting the roof, and the sound of the continuing storm on the outside cleared some of the awkward silence in the room. "Where is Xayne?" Lightning asked, destroying the reset of the awkwardness in the room.

"Xayne!?" Oraian said in surprise. "Oh Xayne, he told me to tell you that he'd catch up with us later. On another note, I got the Oscillator working again. And it shows that the Bhunivelze Materia's current location and-"

_'Everything starts with this, and will end with this, to create a new beginning.'_

That's what he would want, to wake Bhunivelze so the world could slip into chaos. Silly Sephiroth, trying to coerce her into using that Materia to fulfill his plan of world domination. Not on her time. Oraian still went on babbling about the Materia but Lightning wasn't paying him attention. "Forget it Oraian." She said and walked to the side of her bed to pick up her gunblade. She clipped the sheathe to the back of her pants then grabbed her bracer off the night stand. "Forget the Bhunivelze Materia and everything about it. I don't care for it anymore."

"What!?" A disappointed sigh slipped his lips. He prepared to say something else but didn't know what to say. "But," his lips fell half way open and he arched an eyebrow. He was so confused. "Light, I don't understand. We've gone through hell and high water in our search for it now you're saying forget it. I'm sorry but I'd like an explanation.."

"I have my reasons.." Was her only response.

"So that's it huh, what about your friends that you've been trying so hard to save, you're giving up on them?"

Hope knocked on the door and entered the room, walking in on the current conversation. "What's going on in here?"

Oraian shrugged. "Beats me. Lightning has suddenly changed her mind about everything."

Hope looked to the woman. "Ah, so I guess this search for that nonexistent source or whatever it is you are looking for, for whatever reason is over?" The male spit out rather rudely.

Lightning's eyes shot to Hope on a dangerous manner. "No, I've just been thinking, to throw the world into utter chaos for my own reasons would be entirely selfish of me. It would make me no better than Hojo and the Remnants." She explained.

Now that Oraian thought about it, the Bhunivelze Materia would surely cause chaos in the world. He had forgotten about that one fact, too caught up in other matters. "Ah, yeah I see now. So, what? You're going to go about it a different way or something?

The woman nodded."You'll still come with me, won't you?"

Oraian nodded. "Definitely."

"This is insane!. The two of you are just chasing shadows!. You're busy focusing on finding some nonexistent source while these Remnants are devising a plan that could possibly kill us all!." Hope shouted at them angrily, but directed most if it towards Lightning. "Make up your mind, it's either stop the Remnants and save the world, or continue this hopeless and senseless search that you're on and watch everything go to hell!. It's your call, and you can't do both."

"Says who?" Oraian questioned.

"If it bothers you so much Hope then leave." Lightning retorted. She was growing tired of Hope's constant complaining, his nagging, and cocky arrogant attitude. His presence alone had irritated her since they first reunited with one another and it still has not changed. "No one asked you to come along, you volunteered. You could have left whenever you pleased. I'm sick of your constant whining. Stop acting like such a little boy."

"You.." He reached for his weapon and stepped to the woman.

"So you wanna fight. Don't test me Hope." Her eyes flickered between the original green to an even darker one. Hope quickly stepped back.

"Hey you two, stop with the hostility. There are bigger problems than your feud with each other." The purple eyed male stated trying to keep the peace. "Now Lightning, what's your new plan?"

"I don't have time for this." Hope said, fed up and stormed out the room.

The woman shook her head. "Anyhow, when I was down in the crater. I came across something." She placed her hand over her chest as a bright glow emitted from it.

"Wh-what is that Lightning.."

"Some special type of Materia, Xayne gave it to me. Said it'll help my friends." She lowered her hand back to her side and the glow faded.

"Uh-huh.." He mused, not quite convinced by what she was saying. "And Xayne gave it to you, how exactly does it work now?"

"Visions, he said follow the visions that I see and it'll show me the way."

"I don't know Light." He folded his arms over his chest and slanted his lips to the side. "Sound a bit sketchy to me. As much as I hate to say it, I'd prefer the use of Bhunivelze Materia, at least we know the general outcome of what was going to happen. With this I-I mean." He scratched his head and rubbed the side of his face, a nervous gesture he would do when he's trying to think. "We aren't completely sure as to what might occur. We're kind of taking a shot in the dark here.."

"Yea well a shot in the dark we'll take. Any way is better than destroying the world. Besides, I haven't seen anything that would do us or anyone harm so I see nothing wrong with this. Hope and Zack did say that the Materia was a root to Hojo and the Remnant's plan, so it would be best for us to not use it. However we need to find it and destroy it if anything.."

"I suppose Light. But aren't you forgetting that you too are also a part of their plan? I think it would be wise for you to steer clear of them. Perhaps stay here even, until this is all over. Or better yet, like Hope has stated," Oraian rubbed his hand against his arm and stared at the back of the woman's head. "Go home. Let me and the rest of AVALANCHE deal with this. It was never your fight from the start. You just became tangled up in the events by chance."

"Tch." Chance yes, but she was here nonetheless and tangled into it too deeply. This was just as much as her fight now as it was theirs. Leaving would do nothing. The Remnant's would only follow her. They wanted her after all. Going home would only bring danger to those close to her, to Serah. "I'm not going anywhere Oraian. I'm here until this is over!."

He didn't even know why he tried. Lightning was more stubborn than anyone he's ever known. "Alright. Whatever you say Light. So you wanna find the Materia?"

She nodded. "Yes and as fast as possible."

"Alright, he pulled the Oscillator from his pocket and turned it on. "You won't have to worry about having to travel on foot to where we're going." He said as he clicked at the devices screen. "Cid is on his way with the airship. Where ever we're going, we'll be flying there." He turned to the door and started walking out. "Just be prepared alright!."  
**  
****-xxxxxx-**

"Thought you were done with our little plan and wanted nothing to do with it anymore." Oraian said as he walked up the ramp beside Hope, to enter the airship.

"I don't." He said solidly. "But I don't seem to have much of a choice but to follow you guys around. I don't know this place well enough to go running around here by myself. Everyone already thinks I'm one of those menacing Remnants, which I'm not. So to avoid conflict I have no other choice but to stick with the party who's probably going to lead the planet to its doom."

"So where to Oraian." Lightning asked. She passed by Hope who gave her a mean glare. She seen it but totally ignored it.

"Well," He held the device up to the woman and pointed to a dot on the screen. "Seems we're going to Nibelheim. The Materia appears to be in Mt. Nibel." He turned off the device and slipped it back into his pocket. "How it got there is anyone's guess.."

"Alright you guys ready!?" Cid called out as he made his way to the pilot seat.

"Ready when you are!." Oraian said. "We're headed to Nibelheim."

"Got it!." The ship's doors closed and soon the engine could be heard whirring outside at the ship's rear.

"We'll see if you're singing the same tune when the world is wiped of its threats Hope." Oraian gave the male a smile and a thumbs up. "You'll see!."

Hope rolled his eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it."

* * *

**Nibelheim- 10:10am**

"What the.."

The trio stood at the entrance of the village, appalled by what they were seeing. Oraian took a few steps in a little further than the other two. "So much for a home sweet home huh?" He shrugged. "What the hell happened?" There was no sign that anyone had ever even lived here. Homes had been abandoned, some collapsed inside one another. Wild life as well as monsters ran amuck, making this place their home of sorts. Trash, corpses of dead creatures as well as furniture from homes were tossed out into the streets, and a horrid stench filled the air. Rats the size of cats scurried across the grounds finding whatever food or beast corpse they could get their filthy paws on.

"Hello!" Oraian called. But he received no answer. Only his voice echoed in the distance, and some ravens cawing in a nearby tree that had lost all it's leaves.

"You can't possibly think that someone was going to answer did you?" Xayne asked as he walked from behind the trio and looked around the village. "Wow what a mess.."

"Wait, what the hell!? Where did you-?!" Oraian shook his head a few times.

"Cloud and the others told me where you guys went and here I am. But damn this place looks much different than it did when we came here three years ago."

"Obviously..?" Oraian stated in a questioning tone.

The rain made the small village look no better. If anything it made it feel just that more unwelcoming. "Does the sun ever shine around here anymore, what's with the nasty weather all of a sudden?" Xayne questioned, remembering how often the sunny days came compared to how eerie it now was.

"It's been like this for the past three years now." Oraian started.

"What are you talking about?" Hope asked, taking the first step into the village. It was so quiet that his footsteps reverberated off the walls of this place. It kind of bought back a sad memory of a similar place.

"The weather, it's been raining since that day three years ago. The planet is crying.."

Hope couldn't help but chuckle at such nonsense. "The planet is crying..alright Oraian."

"No seriously. The world has been plagued by rain and it will not stop until all the evil doing is over. After Hojo's failed attempt to use that Mako Cannon, it resulted in an explosion that left a great hole in Midgar Ruins. Or what we call it, a wound. Not as great as the one at the Northern Crater but it's pretty big. You know what I'm talking about, Xayne, Light-"

A blur of dark ran past them, making them all suddenly stop. "The hell!?" Xayne shouted. Another dark blur ran past followed by another. But they weren't blurs at all, just figures with black cloaks.

"So people do live here it appears" Lightning stated. Another set of footsteps came galloping in their direction, a cloaked figure again. Lightning swiftly reached out and grabbed the figure, yanking him back. The person groaned out as if he were suffering in pain of some sort. He was also mumbling something. The pinkette pulled the hood from over the figure's face and regretted it.

"Arrgh!." Lightning released the male, both falling to the ground. "Re-re-union..." The cloaked figure called before standing and running off to catch up with the other hooded beings.

Lightning stared at the cold and wet cobblestone ground, terror in her eyes as she stood to her feet. Quickly she shook it off to avoid suspicion.

Hope watched the figure until it disappeared around a corner. "Strange. Where do you think they're headed?"

"Who knows, but I'm not liking the looks of this already." Lightning said while holding her hand over her right eye. She shuddered. "We should keep moving though, come on." The woman took the first few steps and Oraian and Hope followed in suit.

Xayne stayed behind and watched as the trio headed up towards the mountain. A dark smirk stretched across his pale lips followed by malicious laughter.

A figure donning the same outfit as Kadaj and Yazoo, appeared next to him. He had short silver hair and shared the same eyes as the other two. "What did you do?"

"Exactly what we planned. They're on their way as we speak. Now all we do is wait..."


	8. Geostigma

**Chapter 8: Geostigma**

Oraian pointed out towards the group of cloaked figures traveling across the bridge leading to Mt. Nibel, where they were heading. "Hey look there!." He ran a few paces ahead of his comrades and halfway on the bridge. "Now that there is just odd." His head tilted to the side and a bewildered look was now on his face. "Think something is here?" Xayne walked up from behind and passed the three, nodding his head slowly. "Yea, the Bhunivelze Materia, but that can't have anything to do with these guys. Whoever they are. What do you think Light?"

The woman shrugged. "Why don't we stop playing guessing games and just follow them to see where they're going." She watched as the figures made their way up and around the mountain side. She couldn't put a finger on it, but she felt like they were supposed to be at this location. The small burning in her chest was cluing her in on that. Something was here, and not just the Materia either. The woman started walking across the rickety old bridge that looked like it would collapse at any given second. The wooden overpass creaked and the boards often wiggled as if they were going to fall out of place. Pieces of the rope were even flaking off and falling down into the dark couloir below.

"I don't know about this guys.." Xayne spoke feeling a little skeptical about the situation. With their weight and movement across the fragile bridge, it caused it to lightly swing from side to side, causing it to creek more often than he liked. He peered down off the side of the worn bridge and wished he hadn't. His stomach shot up to his throat and he felt sick. "My guts telling me that we should turn back."

"Scared?" Oraian teased. He looked down at the Oscillator and noticed that there was a heavy interference occurring. "We have to go, don't worry scardy cat we'll be out of here once we get what we came for." He laughed and continued playing with the device. The interference was becoming stronger the closer they became.

"Never said I was scared you jerk!. I was just making a statement. Something doesn't feel correct."

"Well at least we know where we're going." Oraian eventually turned the device off and placed it in his pocket when it didn't seem like it was clearing up. "We just have to keep straight up this-"

"Ahhgh!." Lightning grabbed at the center of her chest like she's done many times before. She stopped for a second to lean up against the wall.

"What is it now?"

"Light!?" Xayne called, the first to notice that the woman had stopped.

The pinkette waved her hand up at the male, signaling that she was alright, though she wasn't. Xayne knew that. She grunted again, but this time the pain was also shooting through her wrist. It felt like something was pulling and tugging at her heart, trying to yank the organ out of her chest. "D-damn.." Her face twisted up a bit as she leaned forward.

"Sis,"

"Hn!?" Mako eyes tore from the ground and looked up at the person who called out her name. "No way.." She dropped her head and grunted from another pain that swam along her chest. This had to be the Geostigma, playing tricks on her mind, just like when she used to see Hope all the time. This couldn't be real.

"S-serah!?" Hope called out in obvious shock. "How are you-what are you-!"

No this was real. Hope could see her too. "Se-serah," she couldn't think up of anything to say really. For one she was in severe pain, and two this was all so sudden and out of the blue. "What are you doing here..?"

"You're hurt.." The younger pinkette said out of concern, and ran to her sister's side. "You need to be more careful when going on these journeys of yours, I can't lose you too." She said sadly and rested her hand against the center of her sister's chest, where the woman was holding.

Lightning couldn't believe that she was even feeling this. While she thought this to be a dream at first, she finally realized this was reality, Serah was here. It was random yes, but she was happy more or less to know that her only living family was alive. The gentle touch she gave had somehow calmed the pain she was feeling in her chest.

The pinkette turned to Hope and quickly ran to the individual, embracing him into a tight and loving hug. "I've missed you the most if anything. When you left that night I thought I'd be a very long time until I would see you again and I couldn't stand the thought of that." She nuzzled her face into the male's neck and rested her head against his chest. "So I came looking for you, the both of you.  
And here I am."

The silver haired male smiled down at the pinkette. One of his hands brushed through the softness of her pink hair while the other was wrapped around his waist. "Well I'm grateful that you'd come this far to even search for us Serah." He smiled sadly. "But you have to leave. It's too dangerous for you to be here."

She pulled away and stepped back. "No, I'm staying with you!." The girl chuckled innocently and ran ahead of the group by a few paces. "Follow me I wanna show you something!."

"Serah wait!." Hope stared over where Lightning had been standing but she was already gone, up the mountain after Serah. "Hey Lightning wait up!" He ran after the woman leaving the other two behind. "Serah!." Hope called out, as his voice bounced off and echoed from the cavern walls.

"Where'd she go that fast!?" Lightning's eyes searched around frantically. Serah was easy to spot they both shared the same pink hair. Who could miss that? But so far she seen nothing, just more of those figures cloaked in black, scaling up the mountain. "What the-"

"Over here!" Lightning turned her head over her shoulder to see the younger Farron a little ways ahead of her, waving her hands over her head. Her bright Azures glowed with happiness and her smile was as bright and welcoming as usual. Lightning had no doubt in her mind that this wasn't Serah. Though she did think it to be a little weird for her to show up here of all places. The girl disappeared around the corner of the mountain, following the cloaked figures. Lightning followed.

**-xxxxxx-**

"Lightning, Hope!." Oraian called out for the woman. "Where did they go?" Somehow he, and Xayne got separated from the two after they took off behind that girl. They were only a few steps behind them. It wasn't possible that they lost them that quickly.

"Hey!." Hope rushed down the mountain side, breathing heavily and nearly out of breath. He leaned against the wall while trying to slow his breathing. "Have...have..you seen..Lightning?" He asked through short breaths. He rested his hand against the center of his chest, the racing of his heart pounding in his ears. "I ran to catch up to her but she was gone."

Oraian looked at Xayne then back to Hope. "Strange, we were just wondering the same thing. We lost the both of you when you ran off..here you are though. But where did she go?"

"Her name is_ Lightning_ you know. Maybe she took off as fast as her namesake." Xayne laughed out loud at his own joke that Oraian didn't find at all amusing. "Shut up idiot.."

Hope stared at the male strangely. The people here were all very weird. First he thought it was just Lightning but now Oraian was doing it too, talking to-

"Not this again!." Oraian pulled his weapon out and stepped back. Hope hand a slower reaction due to being lost in his own thoughts. "Hmm.." He shook off his current thoughts and looked up from the ground to see Oraian stepping back, Xayne doing the same. Rushing down the mountain side were those Shadow Creepers that they had fought the other day, this time it was like a colony of them. "Ugh, this is becoming extremely tedious." Hope mumbled to himself as he pulled out his weapon.

"Oh look there," Xayne pointed his weapon out at a giant Creeper among the smaller ones. "They bought their daddy along." He ran at the beasts and leapt over them. "You guys take care of this, I'm going to find Lightning."

"Oh that's nice, so he runs off and leaves us to take care of the monsters!." Oraian complained, watching as Xayne took off up the mountain side. No sooner than Xayne disappeared around the corner, the beasts went right into attack mode. "Well Hope, here we go again."

**-xxxxxx-**

"Over this way Claire!."

Lightning continued to follow her sister up the mountain side bit was becoming overly irritated that her sister kept disappearing and re-appearing. It was like she was playing a game of chase and hide-and-seek, which she hated.

"Serah!." Lightning walked into the cave she seen her younger sister run into, and much to her surprise and relief, the girl was there, but so were those weird figures that were cloaked in black. They were all gathered around the walls of the small cavern, whispering lowly the word; reunion. "Nygh!" The pain was flaring up again, much more intense then ever before. Lightning couldn't remember the last time she ran this much and was out of breath, she felt like she was running for weeks without rest.

The cave looked as if it were made up of sedimentary rock at one point in time but now it crystal shards and chunks coming up from the ground as well as the ceiling and corners of the cavern. The crystals shimmered and gave off a dim orangey like glow.

"Wh-what are you..doing.." The woman fell to one knee in order to catch her breath from all the running she had done, but mostly from the continuous pain in her heart.

Serah smiled at her sister and pointed down at a cluster of crystal at the center of the floor. She bent down and picked up something that was at the center then looked up at Lightning once again. Her smile faded to a more serious expression. "Remember how I told you that I came here to search for you and Hope?"

Lightning nodded.

"Well that is true but it was only half the truth.." The girl looked down at the object in her hand. "You see Lightning, I had a dream and you were in it." She held out her left hand containing the object she had picked up a few seconds ago. "And so was this.." The girl smile sadly. "In my dream, you used this, and saved our friends. I seen everyone, we were all laughing and smiling. Even you, Claire."

Lightning looked away from her sister and looked down at the glowing crystal at the ground. "A dream huh, and I used that?" Lightning cut her eyes at her sister briefly to glance at the sphere in her hands.

'Everything starts with this and will end with this, to create a new beginning..'

She flinched and looked back at the ground. "No Serah, that Materia is nothing good, it can't be used. It'll only cause this world great turmoil." She saw her sister's expression change to a saddened one. "I know, but trust me when I say this, I've found another way. Vanille and Fang will be back with us, just not using that."

Serah shook her head, the frown on her face growing deeper."But Claire you-"

"Hn!" Lightning's eyes grew to a large size. Horror struck. "SERAH!." The pinkette ran to the younger's aid. She wasn't sure if her eyes were seeing correctly or if they were playing tricks on her. A blade, right through the girl's stomach. Sanguine liquid ran down and dripped off the swords edge directly at Lightning's feet.

"Cl-Claire.." Serah's body fell forward off the blade and Lightning quickly caught her. The younger girl's breathing was rapid and short as she tried to keep them steady. "Cl-"

"Don't talk Serah, just save your energy no sooner than we get back to the airship I'll-" Lightning panicked. She couldn't even finish her sentence. Serah's skin was getting paler and paler by the second and her eyes were losing its blue color. "Don't you dare..Serah!." This wasn't happening. This had to be a dream, this seemed way too terrible to be real. But that's just how reality was, terrible and cruel. But to take her only sister, her only family away from her this way. Serah was her only real reason for living. Without her, life would plummet downhill and go straight to hell.

"I love..you.." Serah smiled at the woman one last time. Suddenly, her body slumped over in her sister's arms. The Materia fell from her fingers and rolled across the floor.

"Serah!" Lightning shook the girl but no response came. "Serah!" She called again. No answer. "No.." She knew very well what this was now. But she refused to except it. "Wake up.." She knew, she could feel that the girl was no longer breathing. "Get up.." The life in her was gone, no it was stolen from her.. "You can't leave me like this.." Serah would no longer, smile, she would no longer get the chance to hear her laugh, or hear the spun of her voice again. Her sister, her only family, was dead."

"You have no one else but yourself to blame for this one.." Stepping out from the darkness, came Equis holding the weapon, the sword that pierced Serah. He laughed darkly and looked down at the woman on the ground holding the corpse of her recently deceased sister.

"Y-you.." Lightning laid her sister's body down and slowly rose from the ground. "Bastard..." She charged at at the individual, weapon in hand and swung her blade with all the strength she could muster up.

Equis smirked and his body flickered and vanished, making the attack that Lightning intended to hit him with miss. The woman only struck air. "Behind you." He said mockingly. The woman swung over her shoulder but Equis vanished yet again. Fed up with his game, the woman tossed her weapon to the side and fell to her knees. Angry and irritated. Mostly at herself. Her eyes fell on her sister's lifeless body and she went numb. How could she let this happen? Some protector she was, letting her own sister die, and like this. She just wanted to scream out loud.

"Stop beating yourself up. Don't think of Serah's death as a bad thing." He rose his hands up in the air, the same gesture Sephiroth did in her dream. "I saved her from this cruel world," He gaited in the woman's direction slowly. His emerald hues glowing down at the younger Farron's corpse. "Now your burden has been wiped away." He laughed.

Lightning heard what he was saying every now and then but, not clearly. Though she was awake, she was slipping in and out of a conscious state. It was like she was there, but then she wasn't. Her thoughts would slip away, and someone else's would come to surface. "What the hell do you want from me? You, Hojo. Why are you after me!?"

"Now if I told you then it would ruin everything. You'd try and stop us and destroy everything." The male explained to her. "I wouldn't want to take that risk. But you will see eventually."

The cloaked figures all stepped from the wall in unison starts slowly closing in on the two. Lightning grunted lowly as her head started to feel strange. A flash of a face came to her quickly then it was gone. She started breathing slow but heavily. "What's..." The figures were getting closer to her and Equis but one in particular stepped out right in front of her. The pinkette felt like she was dying. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to control her breathing, her thoughts were scattered everywhere, a mixture of her own and strangely someone else's. heart racing, mind racing, she was falling apart piece by piece and wasn't understanding why. But then-

"Got'cha!." The figure pulled the hood from over their head and-

"Xayne!?"

"Surprise!." He thrusted his arm forward and directly into the woman's chest where the Materia was. Lightning gasped and screamed out. His hand grasped around the magical orb gently, the slightest touch of it had Lightning gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut. "S-so you lied to me..?" She asked the male that she once thought of as a comrade. She was regretting her earlier actions back in the crater now. She was wishing that she followed her mind and just left without another word to him. But it was too late for that now, obviously. An energy flowed through the hand Xayne had pierced through the woman's chest. "You hate me now?" He faked a frown briefly then a sadistic smirk replaced it. He leaned close to the woman's ear. The hooded beings stopped "I. Don't. Care." His hand tensed around the Materia tightly and shattered the orb in her chest.

**-xxxxxx-**

Opening her eyes, at first sight everything was blurry. She blinked a few times before everything became clear. Across from her she was still able to see Serah's lifeless body lying there in a puddle of her own blood. Did she black out? What happened? It didn't matter. She was hoping that all she experienced was a mere dream, but seeing this showed her that this cruel reality was real. "Serah..." The pinkette called out lowly. she tried to pull herself up from off the ground so she could go to her side but her body rejected her from doing that. she could barley move any part of her body. "What did he do to me.."

Xayne, her comrade, he betrayed her and went to Hojo and the Remnant's side to help them in their plan. But why? She managed to roll over on her back and looked up at the ceiling of the cavern blankly. Thinking about all that has happened up until this point. The only thing she came to do was to save Vanille and Fang. Now she was caught up in this crazy mess. Running form Shin-Ra, getting exposed to Mako and suffering from Geostigma, now ducking Hojo, which got her sister killed in the process.

_'I created you..for a purpose..'_

Maybe She should go home, like Oraian suggested. Forget about all of this. It seemed that everything she did bought nothing bout chaos. It's been four years now and She's got nothing. This dream She was chasing is pointless and is just leading to a never ending journey of questions, just running in circles and winding up back where she first started. "I can't do this..anymore." She started to question her existence again like she had once before.

_'I created you..'_

Was she really. Her thoughts, her ambitions, her determination. Were they not her own. "Who am I? Is any of this even real, am I real?"

_'I created you for a purpose..'_

That's right, for destruction. She wasn't a real person, she was created to look that way, but in true aspects, she was just a tool created to kill and destroy. Not feel or show any emotion. "Is that it Hojo, the purpose you created me for?"

"Lightning!."

Oraian ran into the cave and Hope entered as well. Oraian came to her aid as usual but the woman showed no response to caring that he or Hope was even there. She was too shattered to even speak. "You alright, what happened, did Xayne get to you?" He asked spitting out those words in one single breath.

"Lightning!." He called out her name again but she just couldn't answer.

"Where's Serah!?" Hope asked, searching around the cave to see his lover was nowhere in sight.

"So you've finally come to your senses I see." Sephiroth walked from the shadows with that sickening smirk across his face that Lightning had always hated. "If only you'd realized this earlier you probably wouldn't be as devastated as you are now."

"Sephiroth!." She slowly rolled on to her side and up off the ground into a sitting position. "Y-you.."

"But I see you still refuse," He looked down at the ground, noticing the matiria at his feet and kicked it in her direction. "to accept it.."

"Tch," the Materia rolled her way but she swatted it away with her hand. "Is that so," She pushed herself up and stood to her full height. She was finally at eye level with Sephiroth, well almost he was several inches taller than she was. "I have no..idea what you're talking about.." She picked up her weapon from the ground and held it out at the long haired individual. Her hand was a little shaky, causing her grip on the weapon to not be as tight as usual.

"Lightning..?" Oraian tilted his head then looked over at Hope who was still standing at the entrance of the cave. The silver haired male just shook his head and shifted his gaze outside.

He laughed and just turned his back to her. "Then allow me to tell you then."

"Don't you say it.." The woman said, anger blazing in her tone, her body started trembling more violently. She stood in her battle stance, prepared to slice the man to pieces.

Not at all intimidated by the woman, Sephiroth smirked, provoking her even further. With quick speed, Lightning dashed off and was in front of the man within seconds. She spun once, bringing her blade over her shoulder to hit him, but he vanished and appeared directly in front of Hope. "Too slow Lightning!."

"You think this is funny!?" She waved her hand through the air and casted bolt2. It missed again when the agile male vanished again. The attack nearly hit Hope but he jumped back in time for it to miss.

"Lightning stop it!." Oraian grabbed the woman by the arm but she violently pushed him away and went after Sephiroth again.

"You're just like me Lightning, only I have more control over my actions. You, you're just a-"

Just before he could finish, Lightning plunged her sword into Sephiroth's chest, applying as much pressure as she could until the blade pierced directly through him. "Die, you bastard.." Her eyes were wide and resembled a psychotic person. Her breathing was deep and heavy and a smirk appeared across her lips.

Though Lightning's sword was through his chest, he showed no type of pain or signs of dying off. He started off with a low laugh that eventually grew louder. He looked down at the woman amused. "You're a puppet, and will always be just that. Everything you do is the act of someone else pulling your strings. "Everything you've done up until now means nothing, everything you're searching for doesn't exist. Your existence means nothing. You're a project, a tool, and again," he laughed and put his lips to her ear. "A puppet.."

_'I created you..'_

Lightning's gaze grew darker and even more psychotic than earlier. She slammed the male against the rigid walls of the cave, and pulled the weapon from the wound in his chest. She shook her head and pressed the sword against his throat. Their identical eyes staring into one another's. Sephiroth, more calmly than Lightning. "I am no one's puppet!." She chuckled darkly. "And I'll prove that. I'll kill you all. Equis, Hojo, Xayne, the Remnants!." She pressed the blade against Sephiroth's neck, an attempt to cause him pain but it had no effect. You, and whoever else stands in my way!." She swiftly dragged her sword along his neck and the male's body fell to the ground."

Oraian and Hope looked at the woman like she was crazy. Neither of them could figure out what was wrong with her. "Light..?"

"I'm not a puppet.." She whispered to herself over and over. She stepped away from Sephiroth's bleeding corpse and walked over and picked up Serah's body.

"Lightning.." Oraian touched her shoulder and her eyes quickly locked with his. "Don't touch me!." She shouted out and shoved him away for a second time. The pinkette looked down at her deceased sister and stood up. "I'll continue this on my own, I don't need help from either of you. Stay out of my way.."

"Wait. What?" Oraian stood up and ran out in front of the woman, stopping her. But, we said we were all going to do this together remember? You, me, Xayne, and Hope. You can't do this all by yourself Lightning that's fucking crazy. What is wrong with you!?"

"You all are what's wrong with me!." She shouted out of frustration and anger. "I can't trust any of you. Just stay out of my way unless you want to be killed.

"No problem there," Hope responded. "Just tell me where Serah is and I'll go find her. We'll leave and I'll explain to her how you'd rather stay here than come back to Pulse."

"What do you-?" Lightning's eyes rolled down to Serah then back to Hope. "What are you blind!? She's right here. She's-"

Hope laughed though nothing was even remotely funny. He slapped a hand over the eye that wasn't injured and shook his head. "My goodness you're completely-"

"Hope!." Oraian shook his head. "That's enough.."

"Just stay away from me. The both of you." Were the woman's last words and she left from the cave, leaving those two behind.

Oraian watched as their comrade rushed from the cave and started down the side of the mountain. He took a few steps outside the cave and watched until the woman was completely out of sight. He was a little perplexed and frustrated at what just occurred, a little. He grabbed on to his right shoulder and let out a small pained sigh. Lightning's behavior was getting stranger and stranger, and it all started after they left the crater, and that Materia she received. "Hope," He turned on his heel and faced the other briefly before turning back to the cave entrance. "I believe I have some things to explain to you."

"Ya think!." Hope rubbed his hand against his face. Nothing made sense since he arrived. "It would be about time you shed some light on what's happening here so I can fully understand."

First, I have to visit someone." He grit his teeth hard and grunted. His eyes shut tightly and he stumbled back a bit, close to the edge of mountain.

"Woah man!." Hope caught the male's arm and snatched him back from the cliff just seconds before he could lose his footing. "Hey, you alright?"

"Y-yea." He regained his stability and tried to shake off the burning pain in his shoulder. "I'm fine, just a little exhausted. Haven't really been sleeping well." He lied. "Anyhow," He started to throw the subject somewhere else to keep Hope from asking questions. "I have a terrible feeling about something, and that something involves Lightning. We need to find out what type of Materia that was that Xayne gave her."

"Xayne, Xayne, Xayne, Xayne! Is all I keep hearing yet he-"

"I know," Oraian noded and scooped up the orb that Lightning had just moments ago. "Like I said I'll explain it to you soon. But, when you stormed out of the room earlier, she showed it to me. Only thing is, I don't think it's anything good. Which is why we're going to visit a friend of mine who can give us answers."

"And what about Lightning?"

"She needs to cool off right now. It's not wise for us to follow her after witnessing a scene like that. We'll search for her later. In the meantime, let's get moving, we're heading back to the ship then we're off to Cosmo Canyon."

**Airship Bridge- 15:15pm**

"And how exactly did all of this happen?" Cid asked out of curiosity. He and the other AVALANCHE members stood around him and Hope waiting for answers about what had occurred.

"Don't know." He shrugged his shoulders and started to pace the length of the floor. "We all got separated for a brief moment and when we found her, Lightning just went kind of nuts."

"Any idea what might have caused that?" It was Hope who asked.

"It's the Geostigma." Oraian responded.

Hope blinked. And pushed off the wall he was up against. "Geo-who?"

"Geostigma." He repeated for a second time. He observed how Hope's silver eyebrows knitted closely together, creating a look of confusion on his face so he went on. "Lightning has suffered from it for three years now. At first, I came to the conclusion that it was from being exposed to tainted Mako. Which is still half true but not fully. Lightning was the first to show signs of the disease. But now, it's become a disease that's spread all throughout Edge. Children are more prone to it than us adults. And many have died from it as well. How the outbreak happened I'm unsure."

"D-died.." The silver haired male felt a chill in his body.

"Yes, I've done a lot of research and testing but the true cause is unknown." He explained further. "I did manage to make a medicine to calm the symptoms but that's about it. No true cure has been discovered."

"So, how'd Lightning contact Geostigma in the first place?" Hope noticed that he was starting to ask an abundance of questions but it was mostly so he can get a good understanding this place, and the things that were taking place around him.

"She was one of Hojo's constant test subjects. Unlike most, Lightning underwent many tests but showed no type of effects to it. This made Hojo even more interested in her so he kept his experimentations going. Truly, his goal was to create another soldier exactly like Sephiroth, but with Lightning failing to show any signs of change during experimentations, set him back."

"So her Geostigma is a result of Hojo's constant experimenting?" Another question coming from Hope.

Oraian nodded. "Yes, and tainted Mako. What the Mako was tainted with is anyone's guess.."

"Another thing you may have noticed is" He paused for a second. "...Xayne."

Hope huffed and slapped his hand against his forehead. "Uhm, no. I haven't noticed him not once!. Which I've been trying to stress for the longest!."

He nodded firmly. "I know. Xayne's not here and he never was. Geostigma has a number of side effects. Illusions is the top one on the list. Illusions can be triggered by a number of things depending on the person. They can be created out of guilt, sadness, depression, heartache, mourning, and so on. Those emotions mixed in with the Geostigma, creates an image only that person can see. The illusion looks, acts, and sounds just like the real person. But it's not. This isn't the first time she's experienced it. Three years ago when it was her, Xayne, and myself, she would claim to have seen you all the time.

He frowned for a brief second. "Me..?"

"Yea, but I don't know much of why so don't ask me."

"So where do you think she is now?"

"It's anyone's guess, but right now that's not important." His pacing ceased and immediately looked towards the red-orange dog beast in the room. "Nankai, is Bugenhagen home, do you know?"

"I'm sure he is." The beast responded.

"Great, Cid take us to Cosmo Canyon."

The blond male ran and hopped into the pilot's chair. "You got it!."

"So who's this Bugenhagen that you're talking about?"

"He's a friend if all of ours and a very wise man." He started. "Like Lightning and I, he's a former Shin-Ra worker too. He has a lot of knowledge about the planet and can give us some insight on what's to come."

"Alright!." Hope slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "Maybe he can shed more detail on the Remnants and Hojo."

"Definitely." Oraian spoke. "It'll take us an hour or two to get there, so I strongly suggest taking this time to rest up."

**-xxxxxx-**

"Ah-ahgh.. Damn." The door to his room slid open and he walked inside. Amethyst hues frantically searched around the room for a certain something. "Dammit Ahhgh!" He grabbed his shoulder and grit his teeth. Since the other day the pain only seemed to be increasing. His eyes fell upon a syringe on his night stand, a small glass flask next next to it. Oraian quickly reached for the syringe and stuck the needle into the top of the flask. "Nygh.." He grunted. His whole body was trembling and he felt extremely tired as well as weak.

"That stuff is no longer working for you. And you know that." Xayne said. He stood against the wall across from Oraian's bed, observing the male's attempt to calm the symptoms of his current illness. "Nothing works anymore. So why continue trying?"

Just seconds before he could finish filling the syringe with the medicine, it slipped from his fingers and fell on the floor. "Fuck!." He dived to the floor as quickly as he could, frantically searching and feeling against the steel surface to find the object. It wasn't helping that his vision was doubled up and beginning to blur. "No! No! No!"

"Hmm.." Xayne could easily see the syringe. It was off to the right of him. "That stuff can't help you anymore Oraian. Just give in and allow this to be a lot more easier on yourself." He chuckled. "I'm sure you've seen it all already and just trying to run from it, block it out because you simply don't want to accept it."

Oraian collapsed to the floor, his breathing was severely hallow and the pain was now shooting across the entire left side of his body. "Ahhhgh!" Uneven gasps and painful spasms rippling across his flesh, he felt like he was dying right now. He grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled it off and tossed it off to who knows where, revealing a dark patch the started from his shoulder and ended just at the base of his elbow. The blotch leaked dark ooze that quickly created a puddle on the floor. He'd do anything to stop this terrible feeling he was experiencing there were times he often thought about death-killing himself off to end his suffering and those..those voices, their voices.

Those cloaked figures at the mountain, he'd seen them before, in a dream. No a nightmare. He was also among the cloaked figures in the dream searching for the exact same thing they desired, the very thing they wanted. "Mother.."

His vision cleared up for a brief second, enough time for him to spot the syringe containing the contents. Weakly, he reached a hand out and quickly swiped the item up in his clammy fingers. Panting painfully and near the point of blacking out, he stuck the needle into his arm and injected the medicine into his blood stream. When done, the syringe fell from his fingers against the floor. His body twitched involuntarily as the medicine started taking effect. His eyes lazily rolled towards Xayne who was still standing up against the wall. "Accept...joining you and the Remnant's so called Reunion to bring about the world's destruction..." He breathed out a mocking laugh. "I don't think so, Sephiroth.."

Xayne smirked. "So you figured it out huh..?"

"Heh..I knew from when I first started seeing you in Nebelheim, I know it's not you physically. Just illusions you're using against Lightning to use her, and make her think that she can't trust us." He sat up from the floor, clutching his arm, moving only made it worse. The medicine had not taken full effect yet.

"You got it all figured out don't you?" His image flickered several times before it was indeed Sephiroth now present in the room.

"Yea but I'm certain that's not even half of whatever it is you and your minions are planning. But just know, we will stop you!."

"Your threats mean nothing to me, for your attempts to put a stop to me are futile. The only thing it will lead to is your own deaths. But no worries." He looked at Oraian one last time as his form started to fade from sight. "I'll dispose of you soon enough since death is what you're seeking.."

The figure completely faded from sight and Oraian was now the only one present within the room. He looked at his arm and started unraveling the blackened bandages around it. When they were fully removed, he reached in his drawer and retrieved a fresh roll. It seemed to have gotten worse and was getting worse. He tugged on the zipper hanging at the front of his shirt and fully unzipped it. The vest slipped from his shoulders and fell against the floor. Staring into a nearby mirror, his eyes grew in horror. It was worse than he thought. Ivory skin from the right gradually faded into ebony on the left. Starting from his shoulder and stretching down to the v-line of his lower abdomen. He was amazed to even still be living in such a critical condition. But he refused to allow himself to die from this horrid illness. But how long did he have? He knew there was a high possibility that he could go at any minute, any second, hell right now. But if he was going to die, he'd hope that it would be after all this is over.

The door opened but he paid it no attention, too caught up in the horrific image of him in the mirror. No one was aware of his condition. He kept it to himself since the day he discovered it. Closing his eyes, He unraveled the bandages and first started with wrapping up his shoulder and arm. He knew that if he told them then they'd only be distracted and all their concentration would be on him. He didn't want that, he wasn't all that important, the world came first. His matters later.

"You too..?"

He froze instantly. His initial thought was to grab something to cover up the dark markings on his torso but it was already too late for that. "Ever heard of knocking.." He said drolly. His amethyst opened and looked at the person through the mirror. It was Hope.

"I should have, I apologize." He looked at the male's body through the mirror, not in a checking out way of course but his staring made Oraian feel very uncomfortable.

"Like what you see or something?" The male said in a sarcastic tone. He was now bandaging up his torso area.

"Oh har, har, har!." He said dryly. "You would like that wouldn't you?"

"Tch.." No other words were traded for several minutes. Oraian had broken his gaze from the mirror minutes ago to get the filthy image of his body from his mind. He could still feel Hope gazing at him though he wasn't looking. It was obvious he was waiting for an answer to his previously asked question but he was in no mood to talk or discuss anything. "Look, now's not a good time to talk about this. Yes I have Geostigma, and I would prefer if you kept this between the two of us." He finished with his bandaging and walked over to his bed where he sat down, slouched over with his elbows pressed against his legs and his face in his hands. "Cause no one knows.."

"Wha!." Hope was taken aback by his confession. "It looks extremely serious you do know that don't you..?"

He nodded still keeping his face buried in his hands. "I know, but now's not the time to worry about me. We have bigger problems on our hands at the moment. I'll tell everyone after that."

"If you live to tell it that is.."

He frowned though it wasn't seen by Hope. "I will, I'm not dying before this is over."

"So, is this going to happen to Lightning..too?" Hope asked concerned for the woman, only for Serah's sake. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

"There is a possibility." He dropped his hands from his face and fell back against the bed. "But Geostigma attacks people's bodies differently. The symptoms and the rate in which it spreads all depends on the persons body and the strength of their immune system. As far as I know, Lightning will be fine. She's had this for three years now and hers barely spread. Me, I've had it for only two months now and I look as if I'm in critical condition."

"You seem to be handling it quite well though."

He laughed. "Don't be fooled, I have my moments. Just not in public."

"I know you'll be just fine Oraian. I'm sure of it!." He smirked.

"Thanks for your encouragement, makes me feel a lot better about this situation." He smiled up at him before turning over in his bed. "Now get out so I can get some rest."

**Forgotten Capital- 15:57**

Eyes of sea green peered down at the blank expression of a face that would never again show emotion. Pale skin that was getting colder and colder by each passing minute. The pink of her lips was even loosing it's color and started to develop a blue tinge.

She never knew of how her sister wished to be buried or any of that. She never asked figuring it not to be important since Serah wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Unaware of this turn of events. Lightning refused to put her sister in the ground so she figured here was the best of places. She recalled seeing one of her SOLDIER comrades lay his brother's body to rest here. She was shocked that she even remembered that. Either way, Lightning seen it to be more peaceful than burial. The woman's eyebrows furrowed together as she took in one last look at her sister's face. "Good night.." She dropped maher hands from under her form and watched as the girl's body sank into the depths of the water. "Serah.." To watch this scene was pure torture to herself. She felt the need to cry but tears were not an option in this matter. She wanted to scream out but she couldn't find her voice. Lightning was shattered, broken.

Her priorities no longer mattered. Her reason for coming here no longer mattered. Vanille and Fang had become the last thought on the edge of her mind. What would she be doing anything for now? What was the reason? There wasn't one. Not anymore anyway.

_'I created you...'_

What did it matter? Her feelings about anything up until this point weren't even her own.

_'For a purpose...'_

Who's they were was a mystery but she didn't care to find out.

_'You're just a puppet, your actions are because someone else is pulling your strings.'_

The thought of such made her want to just die. But she knew it was the truth. Since earlier, she could feel herself fading away slowly. Even now. Someone else's thoughts and ambitions were intruding her mind. After Xayne did what he did to the Materia in her chest, Lightning had been waiting for the worse to happen.

"Re-reunion.."

"AHHGH!." There was a tug at her heart and a tight squeeze. Lightning took in a pained and hallow breath as she broke into coughing fit. "Fuck!" The pinkette tore her eyes from the crystal blue waters and glanced up to see several figures cloaked in black surrounding the small body of water. Did they follow her?

"Farewells are always such a difficult part of life. Wouldn't you say so sister?"

The voice made Lightning's hand reach behind her and pull her gunblade from the sheathe. The woman slowly rose from the shallow ends of the water and turned to face the individual. Just when she was about to speak, a pain ripped across her head like many times before. She groaned out in obvious pain as the hand she placed against her eye started to tremor. Another vision was occurring. Different from the last but quite similar. She just couldn't quite put a finger on what made it stand out more this time. The vision faded and The pinkette looked back at the smirking male before her. "The hell do you want, huh? You ready to die?"

Kadaj laughed out obnoxiously and shook his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the same bluefish white orb from earlier. "It's almost time." He rose the orb up in the air over his head, venomous grin stretching along his lips. "O-our reunion!." A psychotic chuckle erupted from the back of his throat that made the small hairs on Lightning's skin stand up.

"Re-reunion.." The cloaked figures mumbled.

"Ahhgh!." The gunblade slipped from her hands and clashed against the ground. Both hands grabbed either side of her head, pain surfing across it like she was continuously being smashed there with a heavy object. "Ahhhgh!" Flashes of that same alien like creature she seen in her dream, is what she was seeing here once again.

"Reunion..."

That one glowing red eye, that pale grey skin, and hair as white as snow. But she seen more this time. It all flashed so quickly but the scene was almost horrific. The last thing she seen was the metal head peace on top of its head, and a name spelling,  
_J-E-N-O-V-A-._

The vision faded but the pain did not. It still remained and was now traveling. Coiling down her spine and ripping through her muscle system. It was only forty-five seconds later when the pain had completely vanished but to Lightning it felt like an eternity. Her body quivered and she fell to the ground. Unconscious? No just worn and tired from the constant stress and unbearable pain her body has been taking on recently. She took small breathes as her Mako eyes carefully watched Kadaj's movements. The male knelt down and picked up the woman's body from the ground. "Finally.." He whispered. "Our reunion will soon begin." He placed her over his shoulder and looked at the cloaked figures around him. "Worry not my brothers and sisters. Only a little longer.."


	9. Fatum Ceryx

**Chapter 9: Fatum Ceryx**

**Cosmo Canyon: Bugenhagen's Home- 16:26pm**

"Grandpa!." Just as fast as the name was called, an elderly man emerged from behind the door in the small abode. He wore a long dark blue robe over what seemed to be a yellow robe. The way he got around was peculiar. As he stepped forth and passed the group by, he levitated on a large green sphere. The elder cleared his throat and looked at the groups through his round sunglasses. "I've been expecting you. I knew you'd stop by sooner or later." The man spoke before turning to a ladder and pointing for the three to go up.

Hope looked at Oraian and the male just gave him a nod. The amethyst eyed male stepped up first followed by Nankai, leaving Hope next to last. He observed Bugenhagen's appearance closely and shuddered a little bit before turning to join the others at the top, minus the blue and yellow robes, the glasses, and the long mustache, if Bugenhagen were to switch up his wardrobe with some white, gold, and purple robes, throw a head dress on his head, and was just a few inches taller, he'd probably look exactly like Dysley. Hope sat down on the floor next to Oraian and Nankai just as the old man was levitating up.

"As I was saying," the man continued, he was tinkering with some levers and switches on the wall across from them as he spoke. "I've been expecting you, Oraian, Nankai, and," He looked down at The silver haired male sitting on the floor against the wall. "And your name young man?"

"Hope, Hope Estheim." He responded.

"Right, and Hope. I've picked up on a number of disturbances within the planet recently. And I must say," He stroked his fingers through his beard and looked up but wasn't looking at anything in particular. "This planet is in grave peril." He said in serious tone. The old man pulled a lever on the side of the wall and the pedestal they were all standing on rose a few inches higher. The room darkened and an image of a solar system became visible. It started off as just a still image until some green-ish particles of light started to gather around one of the planets. Bugenhagen floated over towards the planet, Oraian and Hope watching as he did. "This here is earth, where we, the human race reside. And the clusters of energy around it, is a representation of the Lifestream. What you see now is what used to be.." A whole chunk of the particles disbanded leaving behind a good amount but not nearly as much as before. The image of the earth started cracking away and a mix of dark energy mixed in with the life stream.

"Wha-what is that!?" Hope asked realizing the dark energy fusing with the particles.

"This is what's occurring now as we speak. The life stream is not only just the blood of the planet you see, it also holds the plant's essence as well as the thoughts, and memories of the thousands who have lived here before us. Souls of the evil included."

Oraian and Hope both really started to listen upon the old man's mentioning of that. "Souls of the evil.." Hope tore his gaze from the animation and looked at the old man. "Would you mind elaborating on that a little more?"

"Souls of the evil return to the planet as well. Souls are souls. But some refuse to rest because in life, their hearts were full of so much hatred. Souls with darkness can cause disturbance within the Lifestream and throw it off balance. It is even believed that the will of that evil soul can be so strong, it taints the stream."

"So.." The image started to change, grabbing the attention of Nankai, Oraian, and Hope. Now what showed were the bands of light flowing around the four of them, with the dark energy in the mix. "So what exactly happens, when the life source of the planet becomes tainted?" Hope was a little afraid to ask but he needed an answer. Not just him but Oraian too. "And what evil soul is doing it..?"

"Ho! Ho! Ho! I was just getting to that!." Bugenhagen explained. "There are a number of things that can occur. Some visibly noticeable while others are not." The image showed the figure of a human being that stepped forward. With the planet in a dying state, it also has an effect of human civilization as well." The tainted energy source exposed, could be seen entering the figures body. "It lingers in the air causing sickness and plaguing the world with constant death." The figure could be seen collapsing to the ground.

"Geostigma.." Hope mumbled.

"But it doesn't end there. This is no ordinary illness.

"Nygk!" Oraian grabbed the side of his right arm and fell to one knee on the ground. A swift flash of Sephiroth's face was visible in his mind for a few seconds then it faded.

"You, alright there..?" Hope asked.

"Y-yeah." He returned to his full height and shook off the still lingering pain in the right side of his body. "Ah, I'm fine.."

Hope half nodded and looked back towards Bugenhagen. He cut his eyes back to Oraian briefly but said nothing.

"That's for sure." Oraian spoke with strain in his voice. "Let me guess, the illness is capable of driving people mad. Because of the will of the evil soul instilled into their bodies, they can see the ambitions and desires of that person and even act on them if the will is strong enough." He grunted. "But that can't be the only thing triggering these symptoms. There is something else." He took a deep breath and leaned up against the wall. "I just haven't figured it out yet.."

"The Jenova Cells." Hope stated absently. "It has to be."

"You're right Hope, that may be it." He shook of a chill that coiled down his spine. "And that evil soul, you're referring to Sephiroth, aren't you?"

"Precisely," The old man responded.

"So let me get this straight, the will of the Sephiroth has tainted the Lifestream, and that along with the Jenova cells created the Geostigma illness." Hope folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head. "But there is more to it, right?" He tapped his finger against his chin in thought. An eyebrow raised as he tried to grasp everything the man explained thus far. "Can you explain to us a little bit more?"

"Well, thousands have been infected with the disease but have not lived long enough to act upon the will of Sephiroth. While I don't condone the tragic deaths of these people, I'll say I'd rather see them die from the disease than put the world in more danger than it already is. You see, there are some survivors of this sickness and they're in critical condition. What's keeping them alive is truly unknown to anyone. As you've said I believe it to be Sephiroth's will. However, they cloak themselves and isolate themselves from society in the now abandoned town of Nibelheim. Mumbling on and on about something involving a Reunion. While the cloaked figures are dangerous, they aren't the top on the list."

"Then what is..?"

"The Vessel." Bugenhagen stated firmly.

The image around them started to change once again, But it appeared much more realistic this time around rather than images of dark figures.

"V-vessel.." The two said in unison, terrified almost.

The entire space around faded into a dark dingy like area, something similar to a cave. An orb of material floating at the center of where they stood. "Where are we?" Hope asked looking around.

Footsteps could be heard approaching from the back of them, the figure walked directly through the group and grabbed the materia. "Lightning!?" The two shouted together.

"Yes, the Vessel, the main source of this."

"H-hey, then that's-" Oraian pointed towards Lightning and looked at Hope. "This is what I was telling you about, the materia that Lightning said Xayne gave her. But.." He frowned. "So wait.." He turned to Bugenhagen. "Are you saying that Lightning is going to be the cause of these destructive events!?"

Bugenhagen nodded and turned his back just as the real life image started to fade. He wished it didn't have to be him that they heard this from. "I'm afraid yes, that materia she possesses is a very dangerous one. I haven't seen it in years. Professor Gast created it during the Jenova Project. The Proto-J-Materia is what he called it, or in laymen terms, Jenova's heart.

"Wh-what!?"

"Gast had extracted it from the extraterrestrial and used it to aid Hojo in his project. He did some experimentation and processed the being's heart into materia form. It was originally going to be infused into the womb of the woman who carried Hojo's project so that it could fuse with the infant's genetic code. But Gast did an experiment of his own with the materia and tried it out on himself first. The results were nothing good, if anything they were horrid. So horrid he kept the materia a secret then told Hojo it was an unsuccessful process. He afterwards abandoned the JENOVA Project. A year and a half later, Gast was found dead in his lab, with a whole in his chest."

"So someone killed Gast and snagged the Proto-J-Materia." Hope said nodding his head a little.

"No not someone," Oraian corrected. "Hojo. But it's just a heart, what bad is it capable of causing?"

"What if Hojo and the Remnants are trying to use it in their plan?" Hope stated, remembering the discussion he and Zack heard on their visit to the hideout. " You know to resurrect JENOVA, What if the heart is what they need and using Lightning as a host of sorts? You don't have to take my word for it though, it's just a theory. But then there is the Bhunivelze Materia…" Hope shook his head and huffed out of frustration." None of this is making any sense Ugh!." He dropped his head back and looked up at the ceiling that currently looked like a black void.

Oraian was just as stumped as Hope was. "Yeah Hope, I'm with you on that. If their purpose is to resurrect JENOVA by using Lightning," He turned to Bugenhagen. "Then how in the world does Bhunivelze connect to all of this, do you know?"

Bugenhagen slowly shook his head as he ran his fingers through his beard. He was unsure himself. "While you're on the right track about these Remnants and Hojo I cannot speak about this materia you've mentioned I've never heard of it before, nor have I seen any it in visions."

"V-visions.." Hope blinked a few times. "So you can see things that will happen."

The old man nodded. "Yes, anything I see in my dreams I can transfer them into this machine here and make it a visual that others can see as well. The one you seen with your friend was one of my visions."

"So we know that there is a way for us to prevent it, but how? What do we do Bugenhagen?" Oraian asked in desperate need of a helpful answer.

The hologram went off and the light was switch on in the room again. The platform lowered, Bugenhagen and the other three went back down to the first level of the small home. "Stop your friend, get to her before the Remnants have the chance. If they get to her first, then we all better be prepared to meet a terrible and unsettling fate."

* * *

**Airship- 16:57pm**

"And this is why I told you we shouldn't have let her out of our sight Oraian!." Hope said as he and Oraian walked through the long corridor of airship. They had no idea where Lightning was if she was okay or if she was scooped up by the Remnants. "We're doomed man, you heard what Bugenhagen said!."

Oraian more calm was busy trying to sort things out in his head. He heard Hope spitting words from his mouth in a frantic fret but that was no way to deal with situations like this one. Yeah he was just as worried as the next person but if they all worry and become terrified over what could possibly happen rather than trying to figure out a way to prevent it, then they'll all just be digging a hole and causing bigger problems that were even relevant to the actual situation. "I know Hope, but we have to remain calm. Right now we just have to focus on finding Lightning."

"Oh yeah!." He shot sarcastically. "And where exactly do we start huh, this place is huge. It'll take too much time that we don't really have to search for her." Hope took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he had gotten this worked up over anything. It wasn't that he was scared or anything He was just worried. Worried for the future of him, his friends back at home, and Serah..

"Serah.." His heart constricted and he stopped and leaned his back against the corridor walls. "We haven't found her yet either.."

"Hm?" Oraian stopped and turned around. "Serah?" He walked towards Hope and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she's fine Hope. I meant to tell you this earlier when I was explaining things to you but,who we saw at Mt. Nibel wasn't Serah. It was an illusion."

"Nonsense!." He shouted and shrugged the male's hand from his shoulder. "You saw her, I saw her, and so did Lightning. So don't go telling me that my eyes were deceiving me !."

"I'm sorry Hope but it's the truth. Why do you think when we were in the cave Lightning suddenly was the only one who was able to see Serah and we couldn't."

He was in denial now. "Lightning is sick, you know that!."

"Yeah," He folded his arms. "And so am I. I should have been able to see Serah too but I couldn't. You can't afford to worry about small things right now Hope. The faster you accept this the better off you'll be. This all may be new to you. I'm not how different Pulse is from Gaia but this is how it is here.."

He clenched his hands into fists and slammed it against the wall. Everything just seemed to be taking a turn for the worst instead of getting better. When was it going to end? How long would this hell cycle last? How much longer would he be away from his home? He nodded. He still wasn't fully convinced that the Serah they saw was an illusion but for the time he would put it off as that until something else proved to him otherwise. "Right. Well, let's get busy."

"That's more like it!." He smiled and they both walked for the door that would lead them to the bridge. "I'm going to contact Reeve," He said and pulled his phone from his pocket. "I'm going have him send out some of the WRO soldiers to search for Lightning."

"I thought we were going to do that?" The door to the bridge opened revealing all the AVALANCHE members standing around. Their eyes all shot to Oraian and Hope.

"You're right, we were, but we have something else we have to accomplish. And that's picking off those Remnants." He stated.

"_Reeve Tuesti speaking."_

"I'll tell you why in a moment Hope." He said quickly then walked back towards the corridor. "Hey Reeve, It's Oraian. I have a proposition for you." The door slid shut and Hope turned to meet the staring eyes of all the AVALANCHE members.

"So what's goin' on silver hair?" Barret asked first.

The silver haired male walked down the short set of steps on the right and just passed them by and walked towards the many windows that were lining the ship's walls. He expected something crazy to occur upon showing up here but not this crazy. The most he expected was for Lightning to give him a hard time, but this was on a level of its own. His green eyes stared out the window at the dark puffy clouds that were still pouring buckets of rain.

'_The planet is crying..'_

'_The world has been plagued by rain and it will not stop until the evil doing is over.'_

At first he didn't believe such foolishness but looking now, he was actually starting to. Everyone had their beliefs on why certain things occur and he was no different. This was no ordinary rain, and from the looks of it, the clouds producing this rain seemed to be getting darker and darker. Could this be a sign the planet was trying to show them, an effect of this sickness permeating the air? He shook his head, could be. But they needed to act quickly.

"Aye silver hair!." Barret said raising his fist up into the air. "You deaf!?"

He had to think. His eyes fluttered shut as he tried to come up with something, anything. But to his dismay thoughts remained blank. "Argh!." He shook his head and stomped his foot. Alright then, he decided to go about it another way.

'_What would Lightning do?'_

Well that was easy, she'd charge into action without plan, not caring what the outcome was as long as they came out victorious. Ah much resentment that he had towards the woman he had to admit that she had some pretty strategic ways of accomplishing tasks. Well when she really felt the need to. Charging in was usually done when she could come up with nothing else. Perhaps that's just what they needed to do. Screw planning anything, there was no time for that. "Yeah.."

"Hey!."

"Gah!." He turned around to see an angry Barret in his face. The man wasn't particularly scary to Hope but that arm. His eyes dropped to the metallic limb. Right now it wasn't in gunmode, but when it was, it was Hope was a little intimidated.

The door to the hall opened and Oraian could be seen walking out while finishing up the rest of his conversation. "Alright Reeves, thanks." He closed his phone and hopped over the railing instead of using the stairs. He landed on the floor with ease and walked to the center. "Alright guys, I'm sure Hope has filled you in on everything so-"

"No, silver hair here did not!." Barret shouted out and pushed bass the much smaller boy. Hope stumbled a bit and almost lost his footing completely but maintained his balance.

He glared at Barret, well at the back of his head not directly. "Sorry, I got a little caught up in my thoughts."

"Don't worry about it." Oraian reassured and went on to explain to the group the information they received from Bugenhagen.

"Heh," Barret crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "You don't have to ask me what we should do. "My answer is simple; kill 'er."

"What!? What the f-!" Hope stepped forward and pushed through the other AVALANCHE members to get to the center. "No, that is not an option!." He turned to Barret and walked dangerously close to his face. "We are not killing Lightning!." He shouted angrily.

" You gotta problem silver hair!?" Barret leaned forward and Hope stepped a few inches back. "I don't see why not, if she's the one dats gonna be causin' all the nonsense. We'll pick her off."

"Over my dead body you will!." He said and quickly regretted it.

"Hmph." Barret raised his arm and his hand transformed into a gun. "Can be arranged boy."

"How would you feel if it were one of them huh?" He gestured out to all the AVALANCHE members. "Bet you wouldn't so up to killing one of them would you!?"

"Hey, hey you two," Oraian called out and walked in between the two. He placed a hand on both their shoulders but could feel Hope's body trembling. He looked at the male briefly to come across a look of worry and anxiety on his face. He sighed and looked away. "Enough of this hostility, no one's killing anybody." He looked at Hope. "Alright?"

He stepped from the two and started to pace. "As I was going to say, I spoke to Reeve and he's sending the soldiers out to do a search for Lightning. He said he'll notify us if they find her. In the meantime, we're going to handle The Remnants and Hojo."

"And how will we go about that, they always seem to be one step ahead of us everytime.." Zack stated.

"Who cares!." Hope spoke out. "Forget planning, we have no time for that. However this comes out doesn't matter, as long as we come out undefeated." Hope said with a stoke of confidence. "Trust me on this guys. Some things you just do." He said quoting Lightning.

"Heh, I like it!." Oraian said with a growing grin. "Well then let's do this thing then!." He threw his fist up into the air. "Hope, you're leading the attack!."

Hope nodded. "No problem there!."

* * *

**Midgar Ruins: Hojo's Hideout- 17:29pm**

"Yes, yes!" Hojo said while rubbing both his hands together. "Soon the process will be complete!." He studied Lightning while unconscious inside the Mako tank. There was an IV embedded in both her arms, connected to a pouch with some obsidian liquid inside.

The Remnants stood to the side. They watch Hojo for a few seconds longer before turning to face one another. "So, after this, we're still sticking with our plan right?" Yazoo asked.

"Of course we are!." Kadaj answered immediately. "We won't need him anymore after this. He doesn't know what we're truly up to and it's best to leave it at that. Isn't that right Equis?"

"Huh, what.." The male blinked a few times and shook his head. "Yeah, that's right." Recently, since they came back from Mt. Nibel he's been feeling slightly unusual. Almost as if something was missing, a part of him. He couldn't understand it. Little fragments of unfamiliar things were coming to his mind. Almost like broken memories. He often heard voices echoing in his mind too. "I'm going to get some air," He pushed off the wall. "I'll return shortly." The other two nodded and and went back to their discussion.

Equis walked for the door but quickly took a glance at the tank containing Lightning. He stood there for a good long minute, for a second he felt the emotion of sadness wash over him, watching the woman in the tank. Then he felt angry.

'_I can't lose you L-..'_

"Ah-Agh!" He grabbed both sides of his head and tore his gaze away from the tank. Another one, this wasn't the first time. What are these? What's going on with him? "What the fuck is this?"

'_I'm going with you then!.'_

'_LIGH-!'_

"DAMMIT!." He shouted out, his head was throbbing. Hojo and the other two Remnants looked at him strangely. Equis stood to his feet, saying nothing at all he walked out the labs. What was this he was experiencing, why was this happening. Could it be something he's forgotten..?

* * *

**Yep I made Bugenhagen a Clairvoyant. And re-vamped his machine. He kind of always seemed that way to me in seven. So Why not? Anyway, Thank you to all my wonderful readers!. :D**

**In case anyone is wondering, Fatum Ceryx is Latin. Fatum meaning doom and Ceryx meaning herald. put those together bam! Doom Herald.**

**But, later for now! :DD**


	10. Equis&Modeoheim

**I'd like to thank all who are reading this story. You guys are so amazing! :D**

**I really almost discontinued it cause I thought no one cared for it but I see I was wrong. ^_^**

**Next, I went back to all the previous chapters and made a lot of corrections. I know I had a lot of grammatical errors (mostly due to the auto correct feature. I type a lot on my iPhone and it tends to auto correct words that don't really need to be corrected.) Also I had a lot of spelling errors of my own I type fast and I rarely go back and proof read anything since I read it so much while I'm writing it. But, everything is fixed now. :D**

**Anyways, next chapter!**

**Chapter 10: Equis/Modeoheim**

"Everyone is ready on your word Hope!." Cid announced as he set the ship into autopilot. "I've put the ship on course to Midgar so we should be there in an hour or so." The pilot finished.

Hope nodded and turned to face the others. "Alright guys this is it." He looked at Oraian who nodded his head. "We got this the faster we can take out those Remnants the faster we can get this all done and over with." He said. "But these guys are no easy adversary so be on your toes, one small slip up and it could be your last.."

"Ain't gotta worry about us slippin' up wit anything!." Barret spoke out for all of his comrades. The muscular man pumped his fist up in the air. "The AVALANCHE crew never fails any mission!. We got dis yo!."

"Glad to see your determination, keep that up!." Hope said to the rowdy man.

After their short meeting, everyone went off to different parts of the ship while waiting for the arrival to their destination. Hope walked back towards the corridor area and took the elevator up to the ship's deck. Despite the heavy rain fall he just wanted to be by himself for a little while. This was the beginning of the end of all this. While he hoped that this would be as short as possible he knew the chance of that happening was unlikely. The Remnants were tough enemies to defeat. He remembered his first encounter with Equis, he stabbed him straight through his torso and he still managed to live. What the hell were they? Projects yea no doubt but-

"Hey."

The silver haired male was pulled from his current thoughts when he heard the voice of another. He briefly looked over his shoulder to see Oraian walking his way. Hope turned back and faced forward, staring at nothing but the cluster of ebony masses moving rapidly through the skies.

Oraian stopped at the male's side and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes drifted towards the male for a short second. He could easily see that something was on the male's mind. "What's eating you?" He asked. A quick flash of lightning made itself visible within the dark clusters, resulting in a crackling boom that startled neither male.

Hope shook his head lightly, causing the drops of water to splash down against the metal surface of the ship. It was hardly noticeable though. "Just trying to figure something out is all. What do you think makes these guys tick? I mean, we've all fought them yet we can never like, kill them off." He ran a hand through his wet locks and released a despondent sigh. "Have any ideas?"

Oraian's expression was blank and he remained quiet shortly. He wasn't thinking more like trying to figure out how to put what he was going to say in words. He knew the answer. "You see.." He started but then got quiet again. Hope looked at the male intently waiting for him to continue. "How do I say this.." Oraian mumbled. His eyes grew slightly larger for a second making the Mako glow in his amethysts appear slightly brighter for a moment. "When we were at Bugenhagen's and I had that small attack, I seen something highly unusual. Most of the vision I have are destructive ones. Yet, the one I seen gave me clarity. That's when everything started making sense.."

"Yeah, well what did you see?"

He closed his eyes and went on. "I seen the Remnants; Yazoo, Kadaj, and two other ones but they were blurred out."

"Well only other one we know of is Equis, so maybe one of the others that you saw was him."

Oraian shook his head. "No, it's not him. I couldn't make out who the person was but it's not Equis. Is hair was fully silver. Equis is not."

"You think there are more Remnants besides Kadaj, Yazoo, and Equis?" Hope asked.

The male shrugged. "I don't know, but after I seen that I seen a quick visual of Sephiroth's face and, that's when I figured something out."

"Yeah?" Hope's eyes grew in anticipation. "What was it!?"

"Why do you think they're called Remnants Hope these guys didn't just show up here out of nowhere, or perhaps they did. But they're pieces, pieces of someone. Hope, the Remnants are-"

_BOOM!_

A strong force crashed down on the top of the airship, causing both Oraian and Hope to go flying over the ship's edge.

"WA-WOOOOAH!" Hope shouted out, he attempted to quickly reach up and grab on to the edge but because of the rain, it made it impossible for him to get a firm grip. The ship itself was also falling from the sky.

Oraian took a glance upward but with the rain falling into his eyes and obscuring everything, he could barely see much of anything. However, he did see a figure standing at the edge and looking down at them. "Hope look there!."

The male on top of the airship peeked down at the two falling figures and smirked darkly. He pointed a finger out at the two of them and before either of them had a chance to blink, the figure was in arms reach. He had short silver hair, pale skin and an all-black fitted leather suit. He was very muscular and his build almost matched Barret's just a tad but smaller. And his eyes were cat-like and had that peculiar glow, another Remnant. He snatched Oraian up by the collar. "Give it to me!."

"Agh!" Oraian flinched but quickly recovered. He balled his hand into a fist and struck the man across the face before sending his knee into his stomach. "No!."

The man released Oraian upon the attack to his stomach and vanished from sight. Oraian took this time and drew his blade, he knew there was a battle coming. "Hope catch!." He reached a hand into his pocket and tossed the Bhunivelze Materia to the male.

Hope caught the orb but almost dropped it since he wasn't at all prepared for the action to occur. When the object was safe within his hands, he slipped into the pouch on his left hip. "Who is that!?" Hope shouted out. But Oraian could barely hear him because of the ripping winds.

The figure showed up in the back of Oraian this time and Hope noticed it. "Oraian!." He pointed over his shoulder "Look out!."

But it was too late, the male connected his weapon-which looked to be some type of gauntlet of sorts, against Oraian's back. "AHHHRGH!." The weapon released a high electrical current through his body to the point he couldn't even move. His body was numb and he felt like he was going to faint.

"Oraian!." Hope locked gazes with the unfamiliar as he rushed across the open sky to close the gap between them. Hope swiftly prepared the spell of Firaga and casted it at the male, but it missed much to his dismay when he quickly dodge it. "Huh, what the, where did he-"

"Ha, ha! missed me!." Hope looked up above him to see the male descending from above, that weapon he used on Oraian emitting that same high voltage to strike Hope next. "No you don't!." Hope quickly blocked off the attack with his own weapon, but the current traveled through the blade, sending a shocking sensation through his body but not enough to seriously hurt him. Hope pulled away and slashed upward, breaking the male's defense and knocking him off balance. With the advantage, Hope kicked his foot into the male's chest, the impact sending the male's figure flying upward. "Come on Oraian hurry up and recover already!." He shouted out as he began preparing another magic spell. Eyes of emerald snapped back to the sky where the leather wearing man currently was, well he was supposed to be there. "What the-"

"Too slow!" The male said in a playful manner.

"AGH!" A hard kicked met the side of his head that was almost strong enough to render him unconscious. Even with his acute sense as a soldier Hope underestimated his opponent, not taking his agility into concern which he should have. Grunting, he squinted his eyes and reached out his arm that he prepared the magic attack in and grabbed the other by the face. "Take this!." The spell of Firaga was released from his hand and blasted against the male's face. The strength from it sent his figure falling backward. And plummeting down towards the ground.

Still shaking off the eerie feeling from being kicked in the head, Hope dove after the male despite his current state. He drew back his arm containing his weapon as he neared the male's falling figure. Hope had the utmost confidence that he was going to defeat this guy but there was still that lingering doubt inside him. This was one of the Remnants after all. The melancholic expression held on his features twisted minutely into something of a snarl.  
_  
__'The Remnants are-'_

The Remnants were what? What the hell was Oraian going to say? Platinum brows creased into a quick decent from the irritation he had with himself. His gunblade developed a violet aura around it, another magic spell he was conjuring up within it, Gravija Strike. Hope's figure fell closer and closer to the still unmoving Remnant below him. He swiftly bought his sword down with all the strength that he was able to muster up within this one attack. His weapon was close, just seconds away from slicing clean through the man's body, that is until-

"Not quite kid!." The silver haired male held his left hand out in front of him, and with the right snatched Hope's pouch that had the Bhunivelze Materia.

"Hey no!."

A dark energy blast was released from the Remnants palm that sent Hope's figure flying backwards and into Oraian's. Pain of another kind ripped across his body, burning at his flesh and traveling through to his bones. He felt like he was going to die. "Nygh d-damn.." The last thing he was able to see before blacking out was the airship continuing to plummet from the sky as he and Oraian continued to part further and further away from it.

* * *

**-?- 19:38pm**

The cold air brushed over his skin causing him to shudder from the sudden coolness on his flesh. "..." He still had yet to open up his eyes but he really didn't want to. His body screamed at him and his muscles felt like they would tear if he made even the slightest movement. At least that was a sign that he wasn't dead. A gloved hand clenched against the ground, grabbing something cold and soft between his fingers.

_'Huh?'_

His eyes snapped open and dropped to his hand. _'White?'_ Despite how bad he was hurting the male pulled himself into a sitting position. White flakes falling from the sky and lots of it covering the ground. Snow? He looked around a few times and finally sighted Oraian a few feet away from him. "Oraian!?" He crawled to the male's side and tried to shake him awake but there was no response. "Hey!." He shook him again but Oraian still didn't move. Next he checked his vitals. He was still alive, just unconscious. That shock the Remnant gave him must have really done some serious damage. Either that or his Geostigma was doing this. "Where are we..?"

Hope stood up and looked around the area. It was dark so it was a little hard to see much of anything. How long was he out for? There was an old building a few feet away from him and another one smaller in size adjacent from the other. Few homes were in this location but they were either run down or caved in. From the looks of things it seemed that this place used to be a town. "Wonder what happened?" He knelt down and picked Oraian up from the ground. He slung his body over his right shoulder and started walking towards the small building that was across from the larger one. He wanted to do some exploring but something was telling not to. Then he was somewhere he'd never been before and Oraian was unconscious. He couldn't walk around with him on his shoulder the whole time.

Reaching the building, he kicked the door open and it broke from the hinges. The rusty old door fell and clashed against the floor, causing a loud echo to bellow in the building for a few seconds. "Hmm, a bathhouse.." He mumbled, noticing the shower nozzles lining certain areas of the walls and a large tub off to the far right.

Hope quickly walked inside further towards the back to get as far away from the open door as possible. But not even that helped. With the dilapidated roofing and broken windows, the air was still able to get in. It was cold, and what made matters worse is that his clothes were soaked from being out in the rain. "Alright Oraian." He laid the male's body down on the floor carefully. "Now for a fire.." Hope recalled seeing a Wood-stack on the outside of the building. He stepped outside and went to retrieve a few pieces. "Man, I hope the others are alright.." He said to himself. He remembered the ship falling from the sky just before blacking out. And then that Remnant. Who was he? Then he got a hold of the Bhunivelze Materia. "Damn!" He said and kicked the side of the building. He couldn't believe he allowed such a thing to happen. Now what was he going to tell Oraian when he awoke. He sighed and grabbed about five pieces of wood before returning inside the building. He kept telling himself it wasn't his fault but a piece of him believed it was. He set the wood down and stacked it oddly. Now there was a chance that something chaotic could happen and if it did he was the one to blame. "Grr!" He stood from the ground me held his hand out at the stack of wood a red glow channeled through his hand followed by a medium sized ball of fire that shot from his palm and connected with the stack of wood. The flame spread through the wood and created a bright and warm fire. He sighed and sat back down next to Oraian. He could only hope that nothing terrible would happen or hoped that the others got to that Remnant. That is if they seen him.

_'The Remnants are-'_

His mind drifted back to Oraian's earlier words. He was still very much curious as to what he was going to say. He'd tried to think of everything possible but nothing came to him. "Alright Hope," he said to himself while rubbing his hands together. "Think!." He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. "So far you know that..."  
_  
__'They're pieces, pieces of someone..'_

Okay, that was a little helpful but not enough. Pieces of who? It really made no sense to him really. How could pieces of someone just walk around freely? He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and dropped his head against his knees. "Forget it!." He'd just have to wait for Oraian to wake. And only Pulse knew when that would happen.

"Wonder if Lightning is alright.." As much as he wanted to not care, he couldn't help but to show concern. The way she acting the last time he seen her was nothing the way Lightning would act on a daily basis. She was usually calm, composed and showing not even the slightest emotion or care about anything. But this Lightning seemed extremely fragile, not emotionally but mentally. Hope thought she was on the verge of insanity before she left them. He wanted to blame it on her Geostigma but Lightning just seemed very different period and he hated it. This Lightning was also much weaker. She couldn't even keep up with Yazoo when they fought. Lightning definitely wasn't Lightning. "What happened to you..?"

Then he wasn't making matters any better, with his constant taunting that he did to try and get a rise out of her. He was letting his hate towards her get in the way and blind him.

"Mmmph..."

"!" Hope quickly snapped his gaze to his comrade who started to stir an show signs of waking. "Oraian!?"

Said male slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times to clear the blurriness. He sat up but instantly grabbed hold of his side, feeling pain, nowhere else just there.

"You alright man?"

Oraian nodded slowly. "Y-yea I'm-" he paused and pressed the palm of his hand against his face. "I'm fine. Feel kind of eerie but I'll be alright." He said groggily. "Where are we?"

Hope shrugged. "Beats me, I was going to ask you the same question. I was fighting that Remnant after you blacked out and just when I was going to deliver what I hoped would have been the final attack, he blasted me. When I woke up, we were here."

"That Remnant!." He quickly stood up. "The Materia, you have it right!?"

Hope sighed and looked down at the ground. "He snatched it away from me.."

"What!?"

"I tried my best to hold on to it but-" He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry man.."

"Do you know how bad this is? This is serious!." He ran over to one of the windows and peeked outside. It was extremely dark now, a few lights lit the area but not enough to give it full illumination. But judging by the snow fall, they were somewhere in the northern continent. "Great, we're nowhere near Midgar." He reached in his pocket, pulling out his phone he dialed Barret's number.

"Yo it's Barret leave a message and I'll get back to ya. later fools!."

"Damn!." He ended the call and put the device back in his pocket. "No answer.."

"Yea well, the airship probably crashed somewhere after that Remnant attacked." Hope added. "You think they're alright?"

Oraian nodded. "I have no doubt that they wouldn't be. Hope we need to get out of here now!."

"Wait a second!." Hope called out just before Oraian was about to walk off for the door. "Earlier you were about to say something, before we were attacked. "Something about what the Remnants truly are!."

Oraian ignored him he was too focused on trying to leave this place and get back to civilization but observing the weather conditions, the snow fall was too heavy and looked like it was getting worse. Neither one of them had the proper attire to go out in such weather either. And tomorrow seemed to far away. The Remnants and Hojo could accomplish a lot within that time frame. "Dammit.." He mumbled. But they had no choice in the matter. Traveling in this weather could possibly be the death of them. He turned back to Hope, the silver haired male looked extremely anxious but Oraian was ignoring it. "Guess we're stuck here. Hopefully by the morning this will have all blown over, and we can start heading back and continue our mission."

He walked back towards the fire and sat down. His stomach was doing back flips and his mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution but nothing came. Usually his head is swirling with a thousand possible ideas and it would be this day that it wasn't. "Fuuuck!." He slapped his hand against his face and grumbled.

Both him and Hope sat in silence for a long while, only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the fire burning vividly in front of them. Hope twiddled his thumbs back and forth. His mind was just as empty of thoughts and ideas as Oraian's was. And it didn't help that he didn't know much about this location either.

"Hey, I have a question for you.." Oraian called out to the silver haired male.

Hope looked in his direction and blinked slowly. His eyes were extremely heavy and he just wanted to go to sleep but his mind wouldn't allow him to. He was worried about a lot of things. "Yeah," Hope answered tiredly. He yawned and laid back on the cold metal surface, tucking his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. "Ask away."

"What's your grudge with Lightning? I can't help but notice the estranged relationship the two of you have."

Hope sighed. He wasn't really in the mood to discuss him and Lightning's relationship nor did he this it was the proper time for that subject. They had more important things to worry about. "Is now really a good time to be talking about something such as that? The world is in peril and you're asking about Lightning and me?"

Oraian shrugged. "I know that, but we aren't exactly in any position to do anything. We're stuck. Besides, this silence is killing me. If we don't talk about something I'm just going to continue to worry constantly."

True. But worry was the only thing that showed the predicament they were facing was real. Trying to cover that fact up wasn't something Hope wanted to do. "We weren't always like this, Lightning and I. We used to be really close with one another. She was like a surrogate mother of sorts." He quickly sat up and stared into the fire, remembering the times when he and Lightning were close. "But then, my dad died."

Oraian frowned. "Sorry about that.."

Hope shook his head. "It's fine, I've come to terms with it. But after he went, I felt an emptiness within me. My dad was the only family I had left since my mother died during the purge four years ago. I had Lightning but I just needed to get away. The more I did nothing the more I thought about my dad. So I decided to join the army. But Lightning was against it, she wouldn't allow me to because it was dangerous. She said I was just trying to find a way to deal with my pain, and the army wasn't the way to go about it." He sighed and shook his head. "We argued I got mad and stormed out on her. I didn't care about her opinion or what she thought it was my life. But what she said last is what really hurt me the most. I never thought she'd say such words to me of all people. But she did. She told me to never come back." He huffed. "I didn't either. This is the first time in four years since I've seen Lightning."

"So let me get this straight, you're angry with her because she wouldn't let you go to the military?" Oraian raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever consider that she probably said that because she cares? Lightning knows what the military is like. It's no place to just go if you're not mentally or physically fit for it you know."

"Yeah, well I'm fine aren't I? I'm still here and in one piece." He stated proudly.

"Yeah physically. But how were you before you went in, compared to now. Ever thought about that?"

The silver haired male chuckled. "I regret nothing that I went through during my time in the army. It's made me into a better person than I once was. I'm more independent and I've grown as well as learned a lot from the experience. So I don't need a lecture from you."

Oraian raised his hands up. "Hey, whatever you wanna do go ahead. I'm just saying. You're pushing people away and don't even realize it. And over what? Something as little as disagreement." He shook his head. "I've lost many people in the twenty-three years that I've been here. I've been through so much pain and suffering I've become immune to it now. I've held grudges against others for no particular reason. When they left, I felt guilty because I never got the chance to apologize to those people or resolve any bad blood we had. And I regret that. Life is too short for grudges Hope, and yours is ridiculous. You never know when someone is going to leave you and never see them again. Fix your relationship with Lightning." He smiled and pat the male on the shoulder.

"Tch.." He turned his head and looked off into the darkness of the old building. "Trust me," He stood to his feet and walked towards the broken window. The cool air brushed along his slivery locks. "Lightning isn't dying anytime soon. Believe that!."

"Even if that is so Hope, that's still no good reason not to-"

Movement in the distance drew the two's attention. The noise was coming from outside. Oraian hurried to the window next to Hope and peeked outside. They saw Kadaj, Yazoo, and that other Remnant they fought earlier, walking into the building just across from the one that they were in. "Oh they just made this far too easy. What could they be doing here though?" Oraian wondered out loud. "Come on Hope, we're gonna go find out." He climbed up and out of the broken window, Hope following right behind him.

**-xxxxxx-**

**?-20:09pm**

"Ahhhh!" Oraian exclaimed as they neared the building. He looked around recognizing exactly where they were after seeing a few things that jogged his memory. "We're in Modeoheim." He said. "I haven't been here in years. Still looks the same. Shin-Ra tried to build a reactor here but half way through the construction, they quit."

"Uh-huh. Sorry to put a damper on your parade but I don't care. I just wanna know why the Remnants are here.." Hope explained and started into the building.

Oraian rolled his eyes and followed right behind him. "Nothing wrong with a little history facts now and then, what's Pulse like huh? I'm interested in knowing!."

Hope was really in no mood to discuss Pulse. Not only were they in the middle of gathering information but thinking of Pulse just made him homesick and reminded him that he'd been away just a little bit too long. And away from Serah as well. "Can we not right now? We're in the middle of something serious here!."

"Alright, alright.."

Hope stopped when they came to the end of the hall that lead to a wide open space. The two of them stood up against the wall, watching as the three Remnants talked. "What do you think they're up to?"

"Beats me." Oraian responded. "But I guess we're about to find out.

"Here it is brothers." He pulled the Bhunivelze Materia from his pocket and held it out in his hand. "As promised."

"Very good Loz." Kadaj commented. "Now all we do is wait for the arrival of mother!. And everything will be set into motion!."

"What about Equis, aren't we going to involve him?" Loz asked.

"For what reason?" Yazoo spoke out. "He's faltering anyway. He was never truly one of us to begin with. Before our process is over he'll be back to his original state of mind."

"Hmph, so what are we going to do about him?" Loz asked and tossed the Materia to Kadaj.

The malevolent male chuckled darkly as he caught the luminescent orb between his fingers. "Simple," he said and pressed the orb against his wrist, watching as it slowly sunk into his flesh. "You'll kill him, the both of you. While you're taking care of him, I'll start the preparation of summoning Bhunivelze. After you're done with Equis, handle Hojo as well."

"Will do brother. Loz, let's go." The two broke up into the dark black dust particles and they were gone.

"This isn't good!. He summons Bhunivelze then it's over!." Hope exclaimed quietly. "And what was that about Equis..?"

"Beats me, which is why you're staying here and keep watch on him." Oraian stated to a frantic Hope. "Meanwhile I'm going to follow Yazoo and Loz back to Midgar. I'll take care of the both of them, Hojo as well."

"What!? Why do I have to stay here why can't I go and you baby sit Kadaj!?"

"Because I know where I'm going and you don't." He turned on his heel then looked back at Hope. "Don't worry I'll give you a call alright. Just make sure he does not summon Bhunivelze. Got it?" The male said then ran off out the building.

"Dammit!." Hope muttered then looked over at Kadaj who was standing at the center of the floor. Currently he was doing nothing, well at least that's the way it appeared anyway. He wasn't sure what to expect really. "So I'm supposed to just stand here and watch this.." He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the rusty metal beam.

"Or," arms wrapped around Hope's sides from behind. "You can come with me. Go home and leave this place." The person sighed. "Hope I miss you.."

"Se-serah!?" Hope quickly turned around just as the pink haired girl jumped back. She held her head to the ground before raising it to look at him. She had a deep frown etched on her face and her eyes held tears that looked like they would fall any second. "H-hey.." He reached out and pulled her into a hug, but suddenly everything around him froze. "Huh, what the?"

The girl held tightly onto the male's jacket and pressed her face into his arm. Her sobbing continued. "You promised that you would come back to me. But you haven't yet." She sniffled and gently banged her fist against his chest. "I don't care anymore, I don't care if you don't find Lightning I just want you to come home. The loneliness without you is killing me..please Hope." She pulled away from him briefly and looked up at him. Her cerulean eyes were glistening with tears that continued to roll off the corners of her eyes.

"Serah.." He was starting to feel extremely guilty now. He'd known leaving her alone was probably the worst thing he could ever do. Knowing she had no one to really turn to but him. He brushed the tears from her eyes and kissed her forehead. But he couldn't leave. There was too much he was already tangled up in. Not to mention the world was at stake. "I know I shouldn't have left you but leaving now isn't an option Serah. There is too much going on here and I'm caught in the middle. But I promise you, I'll be back. Then we'll go back to the way things used to be. It'll be better though." He smiled sadly. Just the broken look in her eyes was crumbling him to pieces. "I'm sorry.."

She pulled away. "Sorry?" She turned her back to him and clenched both her hands into fists at her side. First Lightning, then Snow," she took in a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. "A-and now you, Hope." She shook her head as her body started to quake a bit. "Everyone keeps leaving me, but for what?" Her tears stopped and so did the trembling of her body. "To save this...world.." Her voice sounded empty.

"Serah no, it's nothing like that I-"

"You choose the world over me Hope!?" She said angrily as she whirled around to face the silver haired male. Her eyes brimmed with tears as a pout crept over her lips. She blinked and the tears dripped from those sorrowful cerulean optics.

Hope couldn't bear to look at her any longer the deep sadness in the girl's face was enough to make him cringe. He turned his head down to the ground. "To hell with this world.." He heard Serah say, pulling his attention back to her. Was she really saying these things, and why? "How could you speak that way? I'm doing this so we can be in a world with no threats. I-"

"It can't be saved anyway from what's going to happen!." She said in an acrid tone. "The world's fate has already been set in stone."

"Huh..?" Hope was now skeptical of what the girl was saying. He walked a few steps closer to her and took hold of her arm gently. "What, what are you talking about Serah, what do you know?"

She shook her head quickly then turned to hug him. "It doesn't matter!." She hugged onto him tightly. "Hope, come with me. The both of us can get out of here. Damn everyone else, they're all going to perish anyway." She smirked but the male didn't see it.

"Wh-what!?" Hope stepped back and pushed the girl away from him. "Serah, why are you-"

Everything suddenly unfroze and went back to its normal state but Serah was still present.

"Great god Bhunivelze!." Kadaj called out. The Materia he put in his arm started to glow.

"Ah!." He looked over his shoulder. "N-no he's about to-" Hope drew his weapon but a force of some type snatched it from his grip. "Wh-what the!?" He whirled around to see the weapon within Serah's grasp. "Serah what are you doing!?"

"You have to listen to me Hope, no matter what you do here it won't change a thing." The tip of the gunblade started becoming engulfed in some dark energy that Hope did not see, too occupied by what Kadaj was up to. "This world is going to meet a terrible fate either way."

The ground around Kadaj feet started to glow, a strange growling red symbol appeared, and the ground started to tremor.

Hope could hear Serah, but he was hardly paying attention to her. Kadaj's actions had his full attention. "This cannot happen!." His right hand started to glow with the essence of his fire magic. He pushed off his left foot, forgetting that Serah still held his weapon in her hand. But when a sharp pain hit his chest, his movements ceased. The spell of fire vanished from his palm as he slowly turned around. Facing the culprit, he was shocked, confused even. His eyes widened as he fell to his knees, coughing a little bit. "Se-serah..how could.." His vision was growing blurrier and his eyes started to grow heavy.

Serah laughed but the laugh didn't sound like her own. It was twisted and mixed with another's. Hope looked up to see Serah walking towards him but her figure slowly faded away and took on the form of someone else. "Wh-what the?" He grunted and held his chest. The figure had long flowing silver hair. His body was clad in all black and a long katana was at his hip. One black wing burst from his back, causing black feathers to float through the air and descend to the ground.

Hope would have thought he was some type of Arch-angel had he not caught a quick glimpse of his eyes. "another...r-remna-nant.." Hope's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell back against the ground, unresponsive.  
**  
**

* * *

**Midgar Ruins- 20:25pm**

_"So what are you going to do after this Oraian, huh?" He asked the male that was walking beside him. They were just a few miles outside of the Wutai area._

_"Hell if I know." Oraian responded. "I may stay in Midgar or go back to Nibelheim and finish off everything with one final act!." He laughed and grinned._

_"Final act?" He blinked a few times. "And what might that be?"_

_The purple eyed male laughed and punched his fist against his palm. "Burn down the Shin-Ra mansion!." He nodded. "After that, take a long vacation in Costa Del Sol. Oh yeah. I earned it!."_

_"Heh." He laughed a little. "Guess you've got it all figured out huh?"_

_"Always have!." Oraian stated proudly. "What about you huh, what are you going to do after this?"_

_He thought for a minute, but about nothing really. "Go back to Wutai and resume my position as the army General. I've been gone too long as it is. I have a lot of business to handle." Was his response._

_"So it's just going to be work, work, work for you!?" Oraian rolled his eyes. "Booooring!. Take a break will ya!." He grinned widely. "Go to Costa Del Sol and relax for a change. Maybe with...Lightning." He snickered._

_"Wh-what!?" His eyes grew to an extraordinary size before he looked up at the sky, acting as if he were observing the puffy white clouds streaming across the light blue mass. His face was even getting a little red. "Where the hell did that come from!?"_

_"Geez, it was just a suggestion." Oraian smirked. "Nothing to get red over you know. Oh wait," His smirk grew into a large sketchy smile. "You like her!."_

_"No I don't, shut up stupid!."_

_"Oh wow, this is rich!." Oraian teased. "Yes you do. Look how upset and frustrated you get when she's seriously hurt or something. What's that all about huh!?"_

_"She's my comrade!. Of course I'm going to worry for her!." He said in his own defense. "Just because you don't worry for your allys doesn't mean I don't!."_

_Oraian teased even further. "I do worry, just not nearly as much as you worry about Lightning." He burst into laughter. "You want me to tell her?"_

_"You better not tell her that bullshit or I'll beat the hell out of you!." He huffed and punched the male in his arm._

_The dual color haired man just laughed it off. __"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, Xa-"_

**-xxxxxx-****  
**  
"What the hell.." He mumbled to himself. What was this? Who's memories were these? It couldn't be his own he was just one of Hojo's creations. "He shook his head a few times and glanced up at what little bit of sky he was able to see within the foliage and rubble of the old city. The rain continued to pour as it has done for several days now. Perhaps these were memories belonging to someone else. But why was he experiencing them?

"WAH!." He suddenly slipped up and into what seemed to be a ditch and found himself tumbling down and into it, hitting every jagged edge on the way down until he slammed onto a small ledge. "Ah,ouch.." He groaned a bit before sitting up and rubbing the side of his head. "Geez.." He looked up. This was no ditch the was a freaking hole. And he had fell pretty damn far down into it. "That's what I get for not paying attention huh?" It was damp and humid down here. Probably from all the rain no doubt and it smelled of soil and something else he couldn't put his finger on. He peered over the edge of the ledge for a quick second but nearly fell when a wave of pain rippled across his brain. "Ahhgh!" He caught himself and sat back against the wall.

"This.." He pressed both hands against either side of his head, grunting and groaning from the massive pain wave swimming through his brain. "AHHGH the hell, is this.."

"Well, well." Yazoo spoke in his usual soft tone. He appeared on the left side of Equis. "It seems Kadaj was right."

"Yup!." Loz said, appearing on Equis right. "He is faltering."

"AHHHGH!" Equis screamed out.

_"Give up Lightning you're never going to win against me. You're too weak. Physically," Sephiroth applied pressure to the woman's weapon-well what was left of it that is, since he destroyed it in their previous battle, with his own then pushed off. His figure glided through the green energy while raising his weapon up above his head. Particles of energy created from energy of some type clustered around the length of the blade. "And mentally!." He swung the blade diagonally with precision, unleashing several blade beams at the woman. __Lightning barely had enough strength to have another round with Sephiroth. _

_She was still fatigued worn out and beat up from their previous battle against one another. But when it came to Sephiroth, she couldn't back down. Backing down meant everything he said was true. And it wasn't. She wasn't weak._

_"Watch it Light!." The male swiftly moved in from of the woman and performed and underhanded swing of his weapon against the blade beams and sent them back towards the menacing man. An explosion ensued._

_"The hell are you doing in here, are you trying to die idiot!?" Lightning spat angrily at the male._

_He chuckled. "Heh, oh thanks for the gratitude. It was nothing." He said sarcastically. "Just imagine what would have happened if I didn't follow."_

_"Nothing would have happened because I wouldn't have allowed it too. I don't need your protecting or anyone else's, I can handle Sephiroth!__." She said in a firm yet cold tone. Though deep inside she was relived that he had shown up. She just hated appearing weak in front of anyone one. Especially him._

_"Yeah, yeah!." He smiled and nudged her arm. "I know you'll thank me properly later!._

_"__She rolled her eyes. "Don't hold your breath.."_

_"Enjoying your chat!." The silver haired male emerged from the cloud of smoke that lingered in that area. With a quickness, Light and her companion parried by breaking off in different directions.__"Whoo.." He said, placing a hand up over the center of his chest, the area in where he was nearly stabbed. "Little too close for comfort.." He laughed. "Hey Ligh-huh.."__His eyes quickly fixed on a glowing object floating within the green energy stream. "Ah! Light!" He looked over his shoulder but noticed the woman was battling with the menace again._

_Shi-ing!_

_CLASH!_

_Lightning looked Sephiroth in the eyes as their weapons struggled against one another. She wasn't sure at all how long she could keep this up for. She was extremely tired, and worn out by all of this. "Why are you so hooked on trying to kill me!?" She pushed off the lengthy blade of Sephiroth and attempted to hit with a magic counter but the silver haired male simply vanished. __"Who said anything about me wanting to kill you?"_

_"Light!."__The pinkette evaded the coming attack with with a quick agile maneuver above the menacing silver haired male, then moved behind him. "I'm fine, don't worry about me, just find the Materia alright and get out of here!." Lightning said to the male before rushing back to continue battling Sepiroth._

_"And leave you!." He said frantically. "No way Light I'm sta-"_

_She pointed the gun of the broken weapon at the male. _

_"I said...go Xayne.."_

_'Xayne..'_

_'Xayne...'_

_'Xayne...'__  
_  
"AHHHHGH!" He huffed and breathed heavily through gritted teeth. "Wh-what's.."

"Let's just kill him now and get it over with Yazoo." Loz said preparing his weapon. "Standing here watching him suffer is almost making me feel bad. Almost."

_'Xayne..'_

_'Xayne...'_

_'Xayne..'__  
_  
"Xayne!." His eyes flashed opened. Everything was starting to come back to him now. The memories all of it. Everything he was seeing. It wasn't someone else's life or memories, but instead they were...his own. And Xayne was- "Me.."

"Yeah," he heard Yazoo say. A metallic sound rang in his ears then suddenly, something happened. He wasn't sure how he did it or where he got the ability to do it, but a blade appeared in his hand, and stopped Yazoo's from severing his head. "You would kill me?" Xayne looked up at the silver haired male, feeling slightly betrayed by the two in front if him. He knew the feelings were completely his but he was feeling them nonetheless and was infuriated. He grit his teeth and with his strength as well as rage, pushed Yazoo back. "You call me brother but try to stab me when I'm down." Another blade created from his will alone, appeared in the palm of his other hand. "Well then, I can play the same game _brothers_." A strange source of energy started to develop from his feet. Terra firma started to shake and crumble away the small ledge below them as the source of energy became greater.

_'Why am I so..so angry..?'_ He wondered to himself. The action he was performing wasn't his own and he couldn't stop it either. It's like he was there and conscious, seeing all of this take place but couldn't do anything about the situation. "How about I kill you!." The flowing energy rushed up through the rest of his body. The power from it crushing the small platform to bits. Yazoo and Loz both vanished into dust particles and returned to the surface.

"The hell was that!?" Loz commented, looking at his brother who was wondering the same.

"Running somewhere?" Xayne said, appearing directly behind the two, cutting their conversation short.

"What the-!"

* * *

**_?-?_**

_"Huh...?"__Warm gentle breeze blew over his figure as a soft sound of clashing waves sounded in his ears._

_"..." _

_Hope's eyes fluttered open and he rolled over onto his back. Emeralds stared up at a a sky of clear blue. Few clouds lingered in the sea of blue, and the stifling rays of the mid-afternoon sun shined down harshly on his pale skin. "_

_Sun? _

_B__lue skies..?" And the first thing he saw puzzled him even further. _

_"A...beach?" _

_No, not just any beach. Hues of green fixed on the crystal structure off in the distance. "Wh-what..?" _

_Standing from the sandy surface the silver haired male rushed down to the beach shore and stare off at the structure, Cocoon as if he'd never seen it before. "How could this.." He raised a pale eyebrow and his hand clasped to the side of his head in confusion. How was he here? How was he here back in Pulse, back in Bodum when, he was just in...Gaia. Last thing he remembered is Serah, no that Remnant stabbing him._

_"Yoooooooo!."__A blue haired male ran up behind Hope and threw his arm over his shoulder. "What's up bro!? For a moment there everyone was worried. We thought that you'd never wake up!."_

_Hope pushed the male away. "Never wake up, what, what are you-"_

_"Hey Yuj!." It was Maqui who called for him. The blonde haired male stopped just a few feet away from his friend and plopped down on the ground, huffing and puffing for air. "We-" he inhaled deeply. "We're about to st-start!." He breathed. "We're just waiting, waiting for- oh!." Quickly stood up from the ground and ran to Hope's side. "Wow, it's about time. You had us all worried about you. You've been sleep for like two days!."_

_'Two days..'_

_"What!?" His eyes bulged. How could this.._

_"Anyway." Maqui started. "Let's go! The ceremony is about to start do you really wanna miss out on your big day!?"_

_'Ceremony?'_

_'Big day?'_

_"Hey, guys what are you talking..about?" Hope asked. But he received no answer the two just ran off back towards the village.__Hope stayed behind and turned to look out at the ocean. "Two days, but how could that have been?" So was everything he experienced just a dream. Was his quest to bring Lightning back home to her sister a mere dream? The region called Gaia, Oraian, Xayne, the mad scientist Hojo, The Remnants, Sephiroth, all of them? Was it all just a dream. Was he really here the whole time sleeping?"_

"_Hope!."_

_He broke from his thoughts and turned around to see Yuj waving a hand up at him. "Hurry up man, don't you think you've kept her waiting long enough!?"_

"_Kept who waiting.." Maybe it was. The world wasn't ending, there was no such thing as Remnants, Sephiroth, Gaia. It was all just some silly dream. But it felt real enough.._

_Hope ran from the beach shore and started back to New Bodum. He was in a rush but not that much, he was still trying to peace everything together. His thoughts were scattered everywhere and he was trying to bring them all together to make sense of it all. But so far nothing was coming together._

"_There you are!." There was a tug at his arm and he was snatched roughly across the sands of the beach. He could hardly stand or walk correctly since he was being dragged along. "I know you work a lot but damn, were you going to sleep through your wedding day too!? I told you that you should have taken this whole week off." The orange haired male dragged Hope into the NORA house and pushed him into the back room, accompanied by Yuj, and Maqui._

"_Wedding day, What!?" He looked at the blond and the blue haired male who were now dressed in tuxedo rather than the clothes they had moments earlier._

_Yuj nodded. "Uhm, yeah Hope. You and Serah are getting married. Remember Lightning approved of it. Took her a minute but she agreed."_

"_Lightning is here!? When did she..get back?" Hope shook his head. _

'_**Am I dead..that Remnant did stab me after all.'**_

_The three looked at each other and laughed. The all looked back to the puzzled silver haired male. Gadot nudged the male's shoulder. "What do you mean when did she get back? Lightning never went anywhere. She's always been here. Now hurry up and change." He walked towards the closet and took down a white suit that was hanging up. "Get a move on will ya." He dropped the suit down in Hope's arms and walked from the room. Maqui and Yuj followed._

"_Serah and I..getting married?" He looked at the suit in his arms then at his reflection in the mirror. While none of it was unlikely. He couldn't recall any events prior to this one. When did all of this occur? He couldn't even remember planning any type of wedding, nor even proposing to Serah. He dropped the suit and ran for the front door of the NORA house. Something wasn't right about this situation here. The way everyone was talking, seemed very unlike any of them. They all sounded strange.._

_Hope's eyes fell towards the pier where he saw a lone figure standing. At first glance he couldn't tell who it was because of the sun shining brightly into his eyes so he moved from the NORA house steps and ran towards wooden platform that extended out into the ocean. The silver haired male paused just a few feet away from the figure at the end of the platform. His breath ceased as he reached out to grab their shoulder. But just before he could, the hand of the other person reached back and grabbed onto his hand. He wasn't sure if they had heard him approach but somehow, they knew he was there. "Heh, for a moment there I thought you'd never wake up." She giggled. "You're so silly. You really should consider getting more rest Hope. You work too much." She turned around and with a bright warm smile across her lips. "Either way," She stepped to him and hugged on to him tightly. "I'm glad you're finally awake."_

"_Serah.." He hugged back for a brief moment then stepped back away from the girl. "I don't understand. how am I here? Is any of this real?"_

_She chuckled at him. "It's as real as you want it to be Hope, you're here is because you want to be. You've done everything you've set out to do. There is no reason to worry about anything anymore. Everyone you care for is here." She hugged him again. "Now, stay.."_

_He knew now and finally understand what was occurring here. None of this was real. It was all a dream. He hugged Serah backand rested his chin atop her head. He wanted to stay. Be it a dream or not, at least he would be with Serah, and the others he cared about. But, what would living a life in a dream world solve. The real world was in peril and he, along with the others was trying to fight and save it. Leaving them behind to do that all on their own, just to live in peace and happiness in a fake world. He couldn't do it._

"_I'm sorry Serah I-"_

_Suddenly, a smog of darkness appeared around both their figures. Hope panicked as the darkness nearly dragged him in, but it. "N-no." He reached a hand out and tried to pull himself from the black void but it pulled him back in. "Someone…" he was scared, terrified now, was he about to die, become non-existent. What was going on here? "Light.." He spoke out lowly, calling for the one he thought he'd never call for again. He knew she wasn't there, but m any times in the past, she would always show up and somehow save him. "Help me…LIGHTNING!" Everything blacked over and Hope was now in a dark area. It was now that he realized that he wasn't as strong as he thought he was. That façade that he built up, the cold exterior he developed. It was all a front to cut off his emotions, an attempt to hide his true self, that scared and helpless little boy. It was now crumbling away. "I ca-can't do this.." _

_He looked around the blackness. "I wanna go home.."_

_He fell to his knees and covered his head with his arms. "Lightning help me!"_

'_**Hope..'**_

"_H-huh.." The male opened his eyes and everything was back to its normal state. _

'_**Hope..'**_

"_That voice.." It couldn't be. Could it?_

'_**Come Hope..'**_

"_Where's it..coming from." Hope stood up and started running for the north side of the beach, where he thought the voice was coming from._

'_**You're almost there..'**_

_Hope slowed to a stop in a small but open area. His eyes narrowed at a strange cluster of strange light at the center of the open space. "Mmm.." The male tilted his head a little and crossed his arms, skeptical about whether he wanted to approach the light or not. Enough strange occurrences have happened already and he wasn't sure if he was prepared for another one yet. What if it was another trap like earlier? Anything could pop out of there, a monster even._

_Hope rose his foot from the surface and slowly started for the light cluster. He had a hand over his shoulder, hovering just over the hilt of his weapon just in case a battle was waiting for him here. When he was closer, Hope reached his free hand into the light then jumped back. _

_Nothing_

"_Hmmph.." maybe that voice was just his imagination. Besides, it had been years since he's heard the voice of that particular person. His eyes closed and he took in a slow breath before exhaling. He'd longed to hear, see, and even hug that person, but they were no longer tangible, gone forever. Both his hands fell to his sides and his eyes fell to the ground._

'_**Hope..'**_

"_A-ah!." His head snapped up once again and fixed his eyes on the cluster of light. "Ah..?" The silver haired male started stepping back slowly. The light cluster started to take on the shape of a figure, and Hope swiftly reached over his shoulder and drew his weapon. A bright flash illuminated the small area briefly and Hope bought an arm up to cover his eyes from the blinding brightness. When everything cleared, the green eyed male dropped his arm, but froze in place. His green orbs grew in size and even started to mist over. Was it really..._

"_M-mom..!?"_

* * *

**Midgar Ruins: Hojo's Hideout- 21:49pm**

"What is this phenomena taking place here!?" Hojo grumbled as he tried to make sense of the changes occurring on the screen. "This wasn't supposed to happen!." He turned to his understudies that were rushing around the lab room in a panic. "What did you inexperienced idiots do this time!?"

"Exactly what you told us to do Professor." One of the understudies stated. He walked to the large computer and began with punching in something on the keyboard which what was originally on the screen. "You see," He pointed to the double helix that was now present on the screen. "This here is Project L's original DNA structure." He clicked a key on keyboard and it bought up another helix but it was blue in color and had somewhat of an ethereal green glow to it. "This here is the structure of JENOVA's DNA, this is what you wanted Project L's DNA to resemble, but instead," He started typing at the keyboard again. The picture of Lightning's and JENOVA DNA merged as one. There was a small flash and the helix was now dark in color, with the green glow still present, but around the outside. "This here is what we got." The understudy explained. "See.." The understudy scratched the back of his head. "Uhm.." He wanted to point out the Professor's mistake but Hojo would always call his speculations preposterous and claims he never makes mistakes. "Where _we_ messed up" He started, emphasizing on the word _we_ "Was, injecting the condensed form of the Black Materia into L's bloodstream. _We_ should have just stuck with the cells and the Mako Professor. She already had the being's heart. Now-"

_SHATTER!_

"AHHGH!."

One of the understudies exclaimed out loud. Hojo whirled around quickly to see his worker lying on the floor. Blood spilling from the wound in his chest where his heart once was. The scientist looked up at the one responsible for the act of bloodshed and smirked. "Perfect.."

* * *

That's all folks….for now that is, it's not over yet still got a lot more to come. I literally had to chop off some of this chapter. I was writing and writing and writing and when I looked I was at 13,108 words. I was like….WOW too long!. But don't worry my lovelies it won't take long for the next chapter to come around since its already half finished. :D

But thanks again to all my readers I appreciate it a lot! Love you guys! :DD


	11. The One Who Sleeps

**Chapter 11: The One Who Sleeps.**

* * *

**Midgar Area- 22:00pm**

"What the hell-Ahhgh!." Oraian mumbled upon witnessing the awkward event that was occurring right before his eyes. He grabbed his left arm, feeling the burning of his Geostigma starting to flare up there. The cloaked beings that he and the others had seen at Mt. Nibel were traveling across the open plains of Gaia, and towards Midgar. It wasn't just a few of them either it was a large crowd of them. More than he and his other comrades had seen before. "This can't be good.." He dashed off, following the mob of cloaked figures. The Geostigma seemed the give off more and more pain as he followed along the side of them.

_'Stop fighting me Oraian..'_

"Mmph-ahrrhgh!" He gritted his teeth and laughed at the voice echoing in his mind. "Tch, only when you're dead and gone, will I stop fighting you, Sephiroth." He smirked. "Until then, I'll continue to fight no matter what it takes.."

_'You're a fool..'_ Sephiroth's voice said to him.

"We'll see who the fool is when this is over." Oraian said and shook his head a few times. "Just what the hell is going on here?" As their location grew closer, the dual color haired male started to slow down. "What in the…" Oraian came to a complete stop just outside of the entrance of the ruins, watching in bewilderment at what was taking place. As the hooded beings entered the ruins, some of them began to collapse and die off. "The hell is going-Ahhgh." He clasped his hand around his shoulder and grit his teeth. "What the-Ahhgh!." He grunted and fell to his knees on the ground. The effects from the stigma rippled down his arm and through his left side. "Fuck! Dammit!." He grabbed at his sleeve and pulled it back. His eyes grew in horror looking at how the once white bandage was darkened. Oraian quickly tore at the bandages pulling them away, despite how bad the pain was stabbing at him. The black ooze continued to seeping through the pores on his skin, dripping down the length of his arm like water. "Ah-ahhgh.." He pulled the sleeve back over his arm and rose from the ground. "Something is not right.." He said lowly and ran into the ruins.

The further in he got inside the dilapidated ruins the more collapsed bodies he seen of the hooded figures. The pain he was experiencing from his Geostigma was also getting progressively worse but he ignored it to the best of his ability, though it was causing him dizziness and effecting his ability to think clearly. "Come on Oraian," He whispered. "Ignore it..ignore it. It's just a stupid..sickness.." He said but quickly frowned. "That's..killing you."

_Bzzt.._

_Bzzt.._

_Bzzt.._

The male reached into his pocket and pulled the buzzing object out and put it to his ear. "Oraian speaking." He said dryly to whoever was on the other side.

"Oraian?" The soft feminine voice spoke. "Oraian it's Tifa, are you okay?"

"Tifa!" His mood quickly switched and a smile stretched along his lips. "Thanks Cosmos you're alright. What about the others, are they okay!?"

She nodded before answering. "Yeah they're all fine. Thanks to Cid's piloting skills. What about Hope? The two of you were on the deck when the incident occurred? What happened?"

He shook his head. "Hope's fine but never mind that now, I'll explain everything when we meet up. Where are you guys right now?"

The woman sighed. "Well unless you have something to get across the ocean, I'm afraid you won't be getting to us anytime soon. We crashed landed near Mideel."

"Damn.." He huffed and rubbed his hand against his face. "Uhm, alright. No worries I'll figure something out. Right now I'm in Midgar, I'm going after Hojo and the Remn-"

_BOOM!_

Oraian stumbled a bit and fell, upon the shaking of the ground and the loud noise that was closer than he liked it to be. "The hell.." He drew the phone back to his ear. "Tifa I'll get back to you later alright. You and the others just wait for me until I'm able to reach you." He clicked end and dropped it into his pocket. Pushing off his left foot, he resumed his run towards the eastern portion of the woods, but stopped abruptly and ducked behind a nearby tree when his eyes bore witness to something very odd. "Equis.."

Xayne reached down and touched the lifeless body that once was Yazoo. Upon the touch of his hand to the body, it disintegrated into this black energy that swirled gently around Xayne's body. The male performed the same exact gesture on Loz's body and got the exact same results. "Wh-what is this.." He mumbled quietly, examining both his hands. He wasn't at all sure what happened just now, or why it happened. However he figured that it was the last bit of Equis' anger. He must have felt some type of betrayal from these two. Then again, they were trying to kill him.

"What the hell!?" Oraian reached over his shoulder and pulled his sword out at his side. While, the remnant was distracted, taking him out should be easy. But what's that black stuff?

"!" Xayne quickly turned around, swords coming from nothingness appeared within both his hands, surprising him. He was going to have a hard time getting used to this type of thing. It didn't take a lot for him to know that someone was there in the woods with him, and they weren't that far away either. "I know you're there, come out!." He shouted. "If I have to search for you, your end won't be a nice one."

"Alright, you asked for it." Oraian whispered and quickly dashed from behind the large tree trunk. With the swing of his arm, he tossed his blade at his enemy and prepared a magic attack for counter.

Xayne chuckled and used little to no effort to evade the blade coming his way. His figure flashed from sight and appeared to the right of his opponent. "Boo.." He said dryly and grabbed Oraian by the back of his collar. He picked the other up and tossed his figure into a nearby tree. He really had no intentions on hurting him after realizing who it was. "Long time no see.._friend._" The dark wind that was circulating around his body had gotten stronger and had also expanded and was growing thicker.

"Friend!?" Oraian said, frustrated by how calm this guy was being. That was no surprised though. He picked his aching body up from the ground and stood in his fighting position. He stood about twenty feet away from his opponent, the two just stared off at one another. Oraian, waiting for him to make some kind of move so it could give him a reason to attack.

"Damn, you've forgotten me just that quickly? Has it really been that long?" He smirked and even chuckled a bit while watching the stupefied expressions on Oraian's face. "It's me you idiot, Xayne..now if that name doesn't ring a bell then you are dumb.."

Oraian loosened up a bit and blinked. "Xayne..?" He stood up straight and took a few steps towards the Remnant cautiously. "Xayne huh?" He said and started circling him. "You know, I've had an encounter with Xayne before you know and, you look nothing like him.." He stopped behind the Remnant.

The ebony haired male chuckled lowly. "Yea, and some time ago you probably didn't have that glow in your eyes either. But that's what happens when you fall victim to Hojo's experiments." He explained. "Look," His weapons disappeared and he raised his hands up in the air. "I know you probably don't believe me right now-"

"Hell no I don't! The last Xayne we ran into turned out to be Sephiroth!. So don't think for a minute that I'm going to stand here and fall into that trap again!."

"Alright, alright geez," He dropped his hands back to his sides and rolled his eyes. "Chill out Terrorist I was only-"

"What?" Oraian interrupted. He took a step closer to the male, Xayne stepped back out of reflex, feeling that the other was just a little to close in his face. "Wh-what..did you just..call me?"

Xayne blinked. "Terrorist.." He huffed. "You got a problem with it?"

"No it's just-"

The dark wind continued to pick up, the gusts grew much more aggressive, and even started dragging the duo. It was becoming so bad that it was hard for either of them to stand. "Wh-what the-" Xayne spoke out but quickly, he was forced to the ground. "The hell.." He grunted and forced his head up through the pressure of gale force winds. "Terrorist!." He called out to Oraian who was surprisingly still standing, though he appeared to be distracted by something. "Terrorist!." Xayne called again but his shouting worked to no avail.

"Terrorist!."

Oraian could hear Xayne calling for him but he sounded very distant, and his voice was growing further and further away by the second. Xayne was right there, on the ground beside him but in a strange way, it was like he wasn't there at all. Soon enough it was like he vanished all together and he was the only one standing in the center of the forceful winds, Accompanied by _him._

"Ahhgh!." The dual-color haired individual fell to his knees. He grasped the center of his chest where an uncomfortable amount of pain started to develop. The dark ooze that was leaking from his pores earlier started up again. He gasped sharply for air as he began with violent coughs and a bit of gagging.

"If only you'd listen.." Everything suddenly came to an unexpected stop.

Oraian looked up only to flinch away and let out a painful wale, that echoed loudly when he came in contact with the face that's been haunting him for the longest time now. "Li-listen to th-the likes of y-you.." He breathed in deep jagged breaths but exhaled quickly when sharp pains clawed at his heart. "Errrrgh..I'll p-pass..Sephiroth.."

"Sephiro- Terrorist what the hell is wrong with you!?" Xayne spoke out to his friend that seemed to be talking to the air. "Sephiroth isn't here."

The silver haired male laughed at the male's attempt to avoid his demands. He found it rather amusing. "At this rate, you'll die. Join me and I can save you. You're fighting a battle that you can't win."

"Tch.." Oraian scouffed. He coughed again, resulting in blood to trickle down the corners of his mouth. "As I-I've stated before," He shifted his left leg, the one he was leaning on to keep himself from fully collapsing, and weakly pushed himself up from the ground. He bent his legs inward to keep himself stable. His body quaked and his eyes could barely stay open. "I'll f-fight you as long as it takes. I-if that mea-me-means I'll die doing so.." He coughed again. "S-so be it.."

"You poor fool.." Sephiroth said as he grabbed the hilt of the weapon resting at his side. He had a short patience when it came to anything and he was quite fed up with Oraian. "So be it, but how about you allow me the honors of ending your suffering." He swiftly pulled the long katana from its place on his hip and whipped it through the air a few times. "Let me cut your pathetic life short, right now."

"Tch,"Oraian was currently weaponless after losing his sword when he encountered Xayne earlier. He was also in a very critical condition. However, that wasn't going to stop him. The palms of his hands started to glow with the essence of ice magic, he curled his hands into fists and readied himself, taking slow steps towards the silver haired menace.

"H-hey man, what are you doing.." Right away Xayne's weapons appeared within his hands. He started backing away from him, even though the wind was already doing most of the work. "Terrorist!."

Sephiroth could only smirk. He found his bravery quite admirable but at the same time careless, and dumb. "Rushing to your own death.." He huffed. "Have it your way."

From the moment the last words fell from Sephiroth's lips, he was already on the move, in the blink of an eye, he was there directly in front of Oraian. A smirk shaped his pale lips as Oraian stared wide eyed and in shock. His hand was girpped firmly around the base of his adversary's weapon. Sephiroth's smirk faded and he started to chuckle lightly as the visage of him vanished. A hallucination? Oraian snapped from his shock and realized Xayne was standing in front of him. "Xayne?" The ebony haired male choked. "Wh-what's wrong.." Oraian started to panic. "Xayne what's-" A warm liquid fell rolled down the blade that Oraian didn't even realize he was holding onto until he looked down. "What the…" He gasped and stepped back quickly. Both his hands were stained red with blood, and a sword, no Xayne's sword was stabbed through his stomach. "H-how..but..I didn't have..XAYNE!?" Oraian went to reach for the male but the wind current hindered him from such, pulling the individual away from him. "Xayne!?"

The swords vanished and Xayne fell to the ground on his side, blood oozing from the fresh gash in his torso. He took slow small breaths as he turned over on his stomach. "Terror..ist." He reached out for him but shortly after his hand fell limp against the ground, as did he."

"Neh! Xayne no Xay-"

'_Oraian…'_

"Hn!?" The male dug his fingers into the dirt tried his best to crawl to his friend's aid. "Damn you.." He mumbled lowly to himself. "Damn you Sephiroth.."

'_Oraian…come..'_

What the hell was that voice and where was it coming from? Oraian shook it off and ignored it, thinking it to be a side effect from the Geostigma or Sephiroth trying to play another head game with him. "Screw you.." He said to the voice. "Hang in there Xayne, I'm coming.."

'_Oraian..'_

Suddenly, there was a break in the dark wind. No, a giant luminescent tear within..the air? Oraian covered his eyes when the large tear ripped opened, exposing bright light. "Nygh.." He groaned and turned his head away, another hallucination and he wasn't falling for it this time. He was still fighting against the winds that was pulling the in the direction of the tear in reality, but he managed to finally make it to his comrade's side. "Xayne!" He shook the male but got no response. "Xayne!."

'_Oraian..'_

He ignored it yet again. "Xayne, Xayne wake up!"

No response..

"That's it.." He wrapped both his legs around a broken tree trunk that was behind him, then grabbed hold of both Xayne's arms and pulled him in his direction. "Phew, Okay." Next he circled one of his arms around the ebony haired male's side and held onto the tree trunk with the other, and pulled himself up in a standing position. "Alright Xayne, just-"

_SNAP!_

"GAH!" The trunk snapped in half and the two were dragged back towards to open rift, but Oraian quickly grabbed onto another tree, only for the same outcome to occur. "Nah, no no!" With nothing else to hold onto, the two allys were sucked up into the open rift.

* * *

_**'Xayne, Oraian..'**_

_A soft voice spoke out to the two men. Xayne's body twitched several times before his eyes slowly started to open up._

_**'Huh...'**_

_Everything around him was pitch black with the exception of small luminescent balls of light floating around his hovering form. _

_"Hmmmm?" _

_Did he die? _

_W__here was he?. "H-hey.."_

_He looked over his shoulder at Oraian who was just starting to wake. The purple eyed male sat up and looked around. "H-huh, where are we."_

_**'Xayne, Oraian.'**_

_There was that voice again. "Who is that!?"__Oraian asked aloud, looking to Xayne for some sort of answer. _

_"Beats me.." Was his only answer._

_"W-who's there!?" He called out. His voice echoed loudly through the dark abyss making him cringe a bit. What if they're dead and this is some form of Limbo...?_

_"A ghost!." Xayne said just for laughs but his ally didn't find it amusing at all.__"You're sitting here joking around and we might be dead!."_

_**'Xayne Oraian..'**__When the voice spoke their name for a final time, a small bright light became visible before it started growing bigger and bigger until it eventually swallowed up the darkness. The two shielded their eyes briefly until the brightness cleared up.__"Huh, what the.." Xayne quickly realized that the surrounding had suddenly changed. No more were they in the middle of a dark void, but now they were standing on the shores of what appeared to be a beach.__"This is getting stranger by the second, yea?" Oraian said as his amethysts scanned the unfamiliar location, bewildered. "What...?" The beach didn't appear to be any normal beach either, the sands were dark with igneous like rocks littering the shore line and the waters and sky was dark and baleful looking. The male turned around and looked over his shoulder to see a tall white brick wall surrounding what appeared to be some type of ruins. The male blinked about three times before raising a foot and started for towards the ruins, Xayne right behind him. "You know," he started. "It's weird, I feel like I know this place. Not like I've been here but.." He shook his head. "I don't know."_

_"What do you mean..?" Xayne asked. "How could you know a place but say you've never been there?"_

_**'Xayne, Oraian...'**_

_There was that voice again. But it seemed much louder and closer than it was when they were in that dark void. Sounded like it was coming from those ruins. The men walked up the stone steps and headed towards the ruins entrance. The sound of their footsteps could be heard echoing with every step they took through the ominous location as well as the sound of the waves beating against the shores of the beach. Turning the corner after traveling down a long brick path, They came to an area of the ruins that seemed to be the only spot that had sunlight shining down on it. Xayne was the first to step in, looking up and all around to see where the light could have been coming from but nowhere did he see a small crack or a fissure that could produce luminosity in this rather ominous place. Nevertheless he had to say it put his mind somewhat at ease. But strangely in the presence of this little bit of light he felt sadness and grief for some unexplainable reason. Like someone else's emotions had just taken him over._

_**'Xayne, Oraian...'**_

_"Hn...?" Oraian whirled around and in front of him was a large crystal throne of sorts sitting on a lone cliff just several feet away. From the looks of it and the way the brick underneath the throne was destroyed, it seemed that some time ago the seat used to be accessible. But do to the destruction of whatever this place used to be, it would take someone capable of long jump to get to it. Oraian was willing to give it a try but after looking down below to discover that there was nothingness he passed it up. The thrown looked to be fit for a king or queen to sit in. So did that mean this location used to be a kingdom?__Suddenly light flashed in his eyes and he quickly jumped back. On instinct he reached for his weapon. _

_The light dimmed down slowly and soon took on the form of a figure. When the brightness cleared and the face along with the body of the unknown figure became visible, Oraian could see that it was a female. She had pale skin that was barely visible because her body, from her collar bones to her ankles were wrapped in tattered grey bandages. Parts of the bandages looked to be covered in patches of crystal. Her hair was almost as white as snow but just a shade darker. What her eye color was remained a mystery since they were closed. "Who...?" Even though the woman was a decent amount of feet away from him, he for some reason still found it necessary to take an additional few steps back. The woman in some way made him feel uncomfortable. "Who are you...?"_

* * *

"_M-mom..?" He stammered lowly._

_The woman presented her son with a nice warm smile. And reached out to touch the male's face. "My son." She said softly then gathered him up in her arms._

_The silver haired male frowned and relaxed into the hug his mother was giving him. It had been so long, too long since the very last time that he had seen his mother. He took in a deep breathe to hold back any tears that was trying to come along. He remembered that last moment he saw his mother's face and that's when she went tumbling of that bridge and to her death in the Hanging Edge some years back. Since then all he could do was dream of the day he'd see his mother again, but he didn't know it would be this soon. The boy reluctantly pulled away and stepped back, smiling a little as he did. "I never thought I'd see you again after that day, and here you are. How?" He asked curiously._

_The middle aged woman only shook her head. "You called for me and here I am. I'm here to help you find your way back to where you belong Hope, and it's not here." She explained to him. "Things aren't as they should be outside of this little dream stasis that you're in. Your friends need you Hope. More importantly, Lightning needs you."_

"_Lightning..?" What could she possibly need him for? She was always capable of doing everything on her own. She never asked for anyone's help even if she did need it. If there was anyone who needed help it was him. He tried so hard to be independent and act as tough as Lightning but in reality, he wasn't. He was still that same scared boy from four years ago that he tried so hard to discard. _

_But was Lightning any different? All her acts of independency and the barrier she put between her and others. The cold front she puts on to scare others away, it was all just a façade that she put on to hide away her real self. Just as she did when they were l'cie. It took him to get around her for her to realize that. "How does she need me mom? Lightning's never needed anyone before."_

_The woman smiled. "That's not all the way true my son." A rift exposing nothing but light opened up in the back of the woman. She held out her hand in which Hope took without hesitation. "She's lost within a dark place, and needs your help." She pointed to the rift and nodded. "Go.."_

"_W-wait," He turned to her. "You'e not coming..?"_

_She shook her head. "I cannot." She hugged the boy one last time. "I'm with you, just remember.."_

_Hope frowned. He'd thought he'd get to spend a little more time with his mother, even if this was a dream. He really didn't want to go but there was much to be handled in the real world. He smiled and nodded firmly. "I will. He said and stepped through the rift. "Good-bye..mom."_

* * *

"_Who…who are you?"_

_The woman said nothing for the moment and gracefully jumped backward and slowly floated down on the crystal throne. Took in a deep breath and slowly rose her head. Now opening her eyes, they could see that they were sterling pools of silver that almost looked white when the light reflected off of them at a certain angle.__**'Xayne, Oraian...?'**_

_She said but her lips did not move. It was like she was speaking to them telepathically.__  
__Xayne quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "That's us..but how do you know our names, and where in the name of Cosmos are we."__A few seconds after saying that there was another bright flash, but this one appeared in front of Xayne. From it, came another woman. "Wh-what!?" The ebony haired male jumped back, swords making themselves present within the palms of his hands. "Wh-who the-!?" The figure, waved her hand out towards Xayne then snatched it back, pulling the two blades from his grasp without even touching them. The woman released the blades and tossed them behind her. The metallic weapons clashed onto the ground and echoed loudly through the ruins._

_The woman sighed sadly and shook her head slowly. "I see like others of your kind you use my name in vain." She stated as though she were hurt. She had long blonde hair and was dressed in a gold and white dress. Her facial expression appeared neutral but her crystal blue eyes told another story._

"_Y-your name?..." Oraian stated, blinking a few times and tilting his head since he didn't understand._

"_C-cosmos..?" Xayne's eyes grew to an extraordinary size. He turned to the other woman off to the right. "Then you must be.." He shook his head. "No way, if that's true then we must be.."__The male's mouth fell ajar and his eyes grew wide. "!" He couldn't believe it. This had to be some kind of joke. "Etro a-and?" This couldn't be. How was this even plausible? "How...?"__"Never mind that. How we're alive or weather we're alive is of no importance to either of you. Right now your located in the world between the living and the dead. "Cosmos said in a gentle tone. Her voice was so soft it almost sounded melodic.__So it was as they thought, they were stuck in Limbo. "So we're dead!?" Oraian asked.__"No, just sleep." Etro spoke.__"Sleep..." Well that was way better than being dead. "But why, why are we here?"__Cosmos extended her arm out at the men but what she was really pointing at was a pedestal just behind them. "We were just about to get to that." The godly woman stated. "__The two could only nod.__"Mmm-hmm." The goddess hummed. "The two of you are probably already aware of this but this world is in a grave state."__"Yeah we know, which is why we are trying to save it!" The amethyst eyed male mumbled and crossed his arms over one another. _

_"We know what we have to do, stop the Remnants and Hojo." Xayne stated and looked down at the ground and shook his head. "I've picked off two of them already and now there is only one left. We can handle this, it's not as hard as we once thought."__Etro and Cosmos stared blankly at the individuals. They knew the answers to all his questions but could not answer them all. "I am afraid that what the two of you speak about the two Remnants that you claimed to have destroyed is not at all true. Hence the reason why the two of you are here." Etro stated. "The Remnants cannot truly be destroyed until their true from is dispelled from this world, __**The One Who Sleeps.**__ The danger to this world."_

"_the danger of this world.." Xayne tapped his chin._

"_Sephiroth!." Oraian shouted out._

"_Yes," Cosmos spoke. "The dark wind you witnessed upon destroying those two Remnants was Sephiroth's doing. His focus is to take control of this world by using the lifestream, but only way to do that is to wake the god, Bhunevelze."_

"_What's Bhunevelze's role in this whole thing anyway?" Oraian asked._

"_To further taint the lifestream." Etro responded. "Force waking Bhunevelze from his sleep will cause chaos to this world. Therefore, throwing the stream of life off balance. With control over the stream of life Sephiroth can recreate the world into his own image._

_The thought of such a thing happening was probably the scariest thing the two of them ever thought about. However the two of them had already been aware that the silver haired menace had not truly been gone, remembering his message that he gave them three years ago. "So this was the plan he was talking about." Xayne stated. "Well, we'll stop him then, and Bhunivelze. Etro, Cosmos." Xayne looked over at Oraian and nodded. "You have our word that this world will soon be safe from harm. This is what we do!." He said with brimming confidence in his voice. "Right Terrorist?"_

"_Allow us to forewarn you that taking down Bhunivelze is not easy and cannot be done this early on." Cosmos stated softly._

"_Well then we have no problem waiting it out a little while, what's the approximate waiting time?" Xayne asked._

"_Five hundred years." Etro spoke._

"_Five hundre-" _

"_WHAT!?" Oraian exclaimed. "Five hundred years, we'll be gone by then! You're kidding!."_

_The goddesses stared at the two with serious expressions before speaking again. "Not even Sephiroth is capable of being stopped at this point in time, due to the resurrection of JENOVA._

"_JENO-" Oraian slapped his forehead. This was a complete and utter disaster. Everything Bugenhagen told them to not let happen was happening. They had failed their mission and now humanity was going to pay the price for it. The confidence he had seconds ago had taken a major nose dive and crashed against the ground. "So-" he paused momentarily. "Wait.." He looked at the two goddesses and his expression suddenly became frantic. His stomach twisted in knots and his head started throbbing from a searing pain that swam across it. "Uh-oh.." He said lowly and swallowed hard. "Does this mean that Lightning…she-"_

'_**Stop your friend; get to her before the Remnants have the chance. If they get to her first, then we all better be prepared to meet a terrible and unsettling fate.'**_

_Oraian felt his legs wobble a bit but he caught himself just before he was able to fall. "Then.." He parted his lips to speak words but nothing came. He desperately wanted to ask his question but fear washed over him. He was afraid of what they were going to tell him. "S-so this means..Lightning..If JENOVA is-"_

"_What are you blabbering about?" Xayne asked, growing extremely annoyed with his comrades, for not being clear on what he was trying to say._

_Etro nodded. She understood what the male was trying to speak. "Yes Oraian, it is as you think."_

"_So does this mean…"_

"_No," Cosmos answered. "She can be saved, just not at this moment in time, and weather she lives or not is solely up to you."_

"_Am I missing something here?" Xayne asked._

"_Oh, let me guess, five hundred years from now when we're all dead and gone is when something will be done!? We don't have five hundred years. Either it's handled now or it never will be!."_

"_Everything takes time. The fate of this world now depends on the two of you, and another. Weather your friend will be saved is up to you." _

_What the fuck did that mean!? Was what he wanted to shout. But he had a feeling that it would just lead to some other damn riddle that he didn't have the time, energy or brain power to try and decode.__  
_

_Etro gave a small nod of her head before she and Cosmos slowly started to fade. The crystal throne she was upon shattered and the ruins they were standing in started to collapse away under their feet. "__There isn't much time left, quickly complete your task and we will handle the rest.." The ground finally gave and crumbled away, leaving Oraian and Xayne falling into the black abyss._

"_Remember the future of this world is up to you.."_

* * *

It was silent but not completely. He could hear the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees around him, as well as the heavy rain fall hitting against the ground. Then there was a long and despondent sigh that came from whoever was sitting on the right of him. "Ah!?" Quickly he sprung up from the ground, weary and since he didn't give his body enough time to fully wake up. "Where..?" He looked around a few time before his eyes fell on Xayne who was sitting on the ground next to him. He said nothing to his comrade and just continued to look around as if he was searching for something, but he wasn't. He was really trying to figure out whether what they experienced was real?

The thick black energy that was surrounding this area was still present here and it was growing thicker. The body count of the hooded figures in this area had grown higher and was continuing to increase by the second, the deeper they got into the ruins. Did they really meet the goddess Etro and Cosmos? Did the fate of this world really rest on their shoulders? Or was it all just some twisted dream? Did he dare ignore it and just continue with their original task?

So many questions…

So little answers…

A small window of time...

Well at least that's what the goddess in the dream told them. What were they going to do!?

Then, Lightning…

"This can't…" Oraian mumbled to himself. Could they really be too late? Was Lightning not Lightning anymore?

'_This is why I told you we shouldn't have let her out of our sight!.'_

Hope's words rang loudly in his ears, and he was starting to regret not going after Lightning when she took off at Mt. Nibel. Now Hojo's experimentation is probably a success and Lightning is..

"No sense in dwelling on whether or not that dream was just a dream man, we were both there. I seen it. You seen it, it's real. Cosmos and Etro has given us a task, and we need to complete it." Xayne said to a distressed Oraian.

"You, you're alive!" Oraian exclaimed. "But I stabbed you..in the stomach!."

Xayne waved the frantic Oraian off. "Yeah, and Hope stabbed me too, when we first met. Yet I'm still here." He huffed. "I'm a project remember. I'm not invincible but it stakes more than a stab wound to kill me off." He laughed. "Now, back to the topic at hand here, we have a big job to do, a very big one."

The dual color haired male shook his head a few times. "Yeah and if we don't the world is done for!. And if we do then we have to wait five centuries that we don't even have to see results? I don't even think I have six months let alone five hundred years!."

"What are you-"

"We're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't!." Oraian stomped his foot against the ground and let out a loud frustrated growl. "I've always liked saving others, I have, saving the planet from Shin-Ra was one thing but, knowing that the future of mankind depends on our actions," He slapped his hand against his forehead. "What if we fail huh? I've already messed up letting Lightning out of sight now she's probably.." He stopped and took a few deep breaths.

"Lightning's what?" Xayne asked. He remembered him babbling about Lightning in the dream. "Alright Terrorist, what's going on?"

He shook his head slowly. "It doesn't matter, we're doomed.."

"What's with you man?"

"What are you talking about?" The purple eyed male asked morosely.

"You used to be so optimistic, now you're..this. It's like you've lost all hope in anything because of this one mission." Xayne explained.

"Because we can't do this Xayne. This task is beyond us, and you know that!."

"Yeah, well Etro and Cosmos don't think that to be true." Xayne stood up from the ground and stretched his arms high up over his head. "And if they believe in us, then we can believe in us!. I know it's hard but no one said it was going to be easy either. Etro and Cosmos may have said it all depends on us but they never said we couldn't get help. We have a whole team behind us you know." He nodded. "So, what do you say Terrorist," He held out his hand. "Wanna save the world?"

Could they really do this? Would they really be able to pull this kind of thing off? He had a long list of doubts. One slip up and everything they were working so hard for could be lost forever. There was no second, or third chances and that's what scared him the most. But something had to be done. They had to take action. They were already wasting time sitting here. He smirked and extended his arm out, grabbing hold or Xayne's. "Hmph, never thought I'd say this but, you're right."

"Huh?" Xayne gave his comrade a wide toothy grin. "Whaddya say? I didn't quite hear you."

"Idiot.." Oraian said and punched him in the arm. "You heard me and I am not repeating myself!."

Xayne chuckled. "I just wanted to make sure I was hearing correctly. You did say I was-"

"Would you just shut-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!." A desperate cry echoed throughout the ruins.

"Wh-who was that!?"

Xayne quickly turned around upon hearing the sound of footsteps coming from the south direction, but that wasn't all. The ground also started to tremor and shake. The two comrade's tried to keep their balance by firmly planting their feet against the surface but it did them no justice, they still ended up wobbling and stumbling about.

"Equis!." Used to that name, Xayne acted on instinct and turned in the direction where he heard his project name called. It was Hojo who called out to him. The old man was tripping up as he ran towards the duo in an all-out panic. Oraian growled at the sight of him while Xayne only glared. The quaking of the ground started to grow more and more violent, so violent that it caused the two allys to fall against the shaky surface, Hojo as well. "You're just going to stand there and watch!?" Hojo screamed out at Xayne. "Save me you stupid project!." The old man yelled.

"Stupid project..?" Xayne whispered. One of his hands curled into a fist while a sword appeared in the other. "Oraian, you go. Find the others and tell them everything." The ground gave another violent shake, creating a fissure that started exposing the life stream. A dark essence rose from the wakes of it. "Alright? I'll catch up with you later."

"Right." Oraian nodded and stood to his feet. "Be careful yo.." He said then rushed off through the ruins.

Xayne watched his friend until he was out of sight then quickly turned his eyed back to Hojo. The male stood from the ground without any difficulty. The shaking grounds didn't throw him off balance even once as he made his way to Hojo, who was struggling to get up. "Save me you stupid project." Xayne repeated the man's words as he neared him. "You know, I don't know how the other Remnants respond to your orders, but I don't take being called stupid, lightly." He reached out and picked the man up by his neck. Not even a few seconds after the piece of the ground he was standing on, gave way and sunk, exposing a large chunk of the sea-foam colored energy. His grip on the male's neck started out extremely tight. "Oh would you look at that," Xayne chuckled. "I saved you.." Hojo coughed and attempted to scream for help but the more he tried the tighter Xayne's grip became. "All of this nonsense here is your fault, and you want to run around and scream for someone to save you." Hojo's face started changing from red to blue and his eyes were now bloodshot from the lack of proper circulation. "Well here," Xayne whispered quietly. He raised his sword that he was tightly holding onto. "Let me _save _you!." The ebony haired male released Hojo from his grip. As he fell towards the collapsing grounds, Xayne performed a swift spin attack that resulted in the splattering of blood along the cracked surface, and even on himself. The Life Stream tainted red in that one spot as Hojo's body, and his head, fell into the depts. of it. A stream of the crimson liquid ran off the edge of the male's blade that soon vanished from his hand. "There.." He said lowly and proceeded to whip away the splatter of blood from his face. "I _saved_ you. Farewell you son of a-"

_BOOM!_

The tremors were growing worse and now the ground was really starting to break apart. The black essence that was rising from the fissure moments ago, was now rising from every crack that exposed the energy of life. "What the..fuck?" Suddenly the tremors stopped. "What's" He started backing up. "What's going-" He stopped when his back hit against something. Instantly, the male turned around and his mouth fell agape.

He took several steps back, argent optics gazed over the figure in front of him in disbelief. This couldn't be. It wasn't. Xayne took in a few breaths as his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides, gripping the hilts of the swords in both. So this is what it has come to. This is what Hojo was so hard up on accomplishing. This wasn't her, it had to be a clone of some type. His eyes scanned over her once more. Silver hair, pale skin, and those piercing animalistic sea-foam eyes. "L-ligh.."

No, he dared not say it, never would he refer to this, this _being_ as her. He looked her in the eyes, that cold gaze that she usually gave was much colder than he could remember. No more did she have the vivid blue eyes that he liked so much. The determined look was gone, everything about her reflected something dark, and it gave him the chills. He hated it, Looking at her in this state made him so angry. This person here, it wasn't her at all this wasn't _his..his.._

"Lightning..?" He whispered out reluctantly.


End file.
